


Future Parenting

by JackieWepps



Series: Free Parenting [2]
Category: Free!
Genre: AU, Family, Family Drama, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-16
Updated: 2016-02-28
Packaged: 2018-05-14 07:29:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 42
Words: 56,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5734939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JackieWepps/pseuds/JackieWepps
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For two years now, the family has been living in perfect harmony. But now Haruka and Rin are going to study in Australia and Rei is planning on moving out. So what will become of Nagisa?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Swimming

In the middle of spring break, in Tokyo, the capital of Japan, two men in the middle of their thirties could be seen running through town appearing to be in a hurry. They were heading towards a specific location, the gigantic swimming stadium in the center of Tokyo.

“Oh crap!” the taller one of them said. “We’re late!”

The other looked at his watch. “We’ve still got five minutes before their race starts!”

The first one said nothing. He just picked up the speed and ran the last few meters to the swimming stadium. The other followed and the two entered, quickly making their way to the tribune. By that time, both were completely out of breath.

“Mako-chan! Kisu-chan!” A blonde boy stood up from the front row and called out their names as he saw them. He had been keeping an eye on the entrance for the past 15 minutes, hoping that the two men would make it.

“We’re sorry, Nagisa,” Tachibana Makoto answered as he and the other, Shigino Kisumi, headed down towards the blonde, Hazuki Nagisa, and the bluenette next to him, Ryugazaki Rei.

“You just barely made it,” Rei said as the two men reached him and Nagisa. “Their race is about to start. They just finished announcing it as you entered.”

“Which event is it?” Kisumi asked and sat down on the other side of Rei.

“Males’ freestyle,” Nagisa answered. “That’s the only thing Haru-chan has ever agreed to swim,”

Kisumi leaned forward to try and see if he could spot the two swimmers down by the starting blocks. His purple eyes were continuously scanning the place, however, without finding what they were looking for.

“Where are they?” he asked, eyeing Makoto through the corner of his eye.

“By the fourth and fifth lane,” Makoto answered, directing Kisumi’s attention towards the middle of the pool. “Haru is by the fourth and Rin is by the fifth,” he explained further.

Kisumi looked directly up at Makoto with amazement. “How can you tell them apart at this distance? With their caps on, all the swimmers look the same to me.”

Makoto smiled with a hint of insecurity. “I’m not sure,” he confessed. “Maybe because I adopted them and therefore see myself as their parent? I can do the same with Rei and Nagisa.”

“Take your marks!”

By the sound of those words, everyone stopped talking and a deafening silence was the only thing that could be heard in the stadium as the swimmers did as they were told.

“Ready!”

Everyone watched as the swimmers prepared themselves. Makoto found that he was arguing with himself about whom he wanted to win. He ended up deciding to cheer for both of them as loud as he could, though to cheer for both Rin and Haru at the same time did seem a bit confusing to everyone else. More than once, Makoto had been asked whom he cheered for by curious spectators who couldn’t keep to themselves.

“Go!”

The sound that marked the start was heard and all the swimmers jumped up. The two in the middle about a second before everyone else, and at the same time their bodies sunk into the water and they began the stroke of the front crawl.

Both of those in the middle were working really hard. It was easy to tell they were both aiming for first place, and judging from the distance between them and the next one, the only one who could keep them from first place was the other.

One of the two was racing to win and beat the other yet another time, the other was racing because he didn’t want to listen to the first one bragging about winning the next entire week, or until he was actually beaten.

They entered the turn and swam back. The one in the fifth lane was a bit ahead of the one in the fourth, due to his kick, but the one in the fourth lane was a tiny bit faster in his stroke.

“They are both so talented,” Makoto heard one talent scout mumble to another.

“Tell me about it, I’ve had them on my rater for a while now,” the second talent scout answered.

“How come you haven’t asked them yet?” the first asked.

“They say they have already decided where they’re gonna go after high school,” the second one answered.

At that moment the conversation between the two talent scouts was interrupted by the loud cheers from the spectators. The swimmers in the fourth and fifth lane had both finished, by a 0.2 seconds’ difference. The one in the fifth lane had won and was grinning widely, showing all the pointed teeth.

“Way to go, Rin-chan!” Nagisa yelled, stepping up on the chair and jumping up and down until Rei got up as well and pulled him down.

“Stop doing that, Nagisa-kun, you might fall,” he said.

Nagisa pouted for a bit, but everyone knew it was just an act. He loved it when Rei was forced to show how much he actually cared, especially because the older one always pretended not to care.

“We should meet up with them,” Makoto suggested and Kisumi nodded.

“You lead the way,” he said.

Makoto nodded and did as told. He led the way to where the family usually met up after a race. Rin and Haruka were already there, but they weren’t alone.

“I’m telling you, if you go to my collage you can make all your dreams come true,” the man said. “And that even within the borders of Japan.”

“I told you, we’ve already decided!” Rin exclaimed loudly. He’d clearly lost all his patience with the man a long time ago.

“You keep saying that, but Nanase never says a word,” the man turned his attention to Haruka.

“I only swim free,” Haruka answered.

“And you can still do th-“ The man was cut off when Haruka held up a hand to show that he wasn’t done talking yet.

“That means I don’t let anyone else decide where I’m going after this. I have already decided to follow Rin on his path,” he said. His voice was kept calm as usual, but Makoto could see that he was just as annoyed as Rin was.

“Rin-chan! Haru-chan!” Nagisa ran up to Rin and Haruka and wrapped an arm around each of their shoulders, squeezing them tightly.

“We should get going,” Rin said. “Our family is here.” he turned his back on the talent scout and so did Haruka, Nagisa was still in between them. “Great timing,” Rin whispered to Nagisa. “I was just about to lose it for a second.”

The talent scout wasn’t giving up though. “Excuse me,” he spoke to Kisumi. “Are you their parent by any chance?”

Kisumi smiled. “Nah, I’m just the supportive friend of the family who is tagging along.” He nodded at Makoto. “That’s their father,” he said.

The talent scout turned to Makoto. “Do you know what Nanase and Matsuoka have planned for their futures?” he asked.

Makoto smiled and nodded. “I’ve known for about two years now,” he said.

“Won’t you rather have them swimming back here in Japan?” the man asked.

Makoto shrugged. “If Australia is where they want to go, then I have no reason to stop them from going there,” he said. “Sure I think it’s far, but if they’re happy with their decision, then so am I.”

“That kind of model parent that everybody dreams of,” the scout mumbled with an irritated and defeated expression. “I should’ve known.” He then left. He had used up everything he had to have Rin and Haruka enrolled in his collage next year, but it had had no effect at all.

“Well,” Makoto said looking at the two boys. “As I said, it’s not that I mind you going to Australia or anything, I’m not going to stand in your way either, but when someone comes to offer you something, at least be polite when declining the offer.” He then smiled, changing from the ‘trying to be strict parent’ to the very nice parent, whom he originally was. “With that being said, I ordered pizza for the night. We’re going to pick it up on our way home, unfortunately Kisumi’s car broke down so we have to go by train.”

“I don’t mind, some fresh air should do us good,” Rin said and then looked at Haruka.

“Yeah,” the black-haired teen answered.


	2. Since

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Recap of Free Parenting and a tiny introduction to the new story.

Haruka was lying in his bed and staring up at the ceiling in the room he shared with Rin. Tomorrow he would begin his third, and final, year of high school. He wasn’t sure how to feel about the whole thing.

It had been almost three years since Haruka moved to Tokyo with Makoto and the others because the hospital Makoto used to work at in Iwatobi was closing due to financial trouble. Therefore he had gotten a new job in Tokyo.

They had lived in a small apartment that Makoto had managed to get within a very short notice, and they had moved just as summer break started. Makoto had had to work for way longer than usual and for a lot less, so their lives had had to undergo an overall change. Haruka had had to learn how to cook, and become very good at it actually, at least the others said so.

They had started school, Haruka and Rin in their third year of middle school, Nagisa in his second year of middle school, and Rei in his second year of high school.

Along with school came new friends, Haruka and Rin befriended Yazaki Aki, Nitori Aiichirou and their next door neighbor Yamazaki Sousuke. It was because of Sousuke that Rin and Haruka had a falling out and stopped talking to each other for months, but also because of Makoto’s childhood friend Shigino Kisumi.

Rin and Haruka had never known Kisumi because he got scouted as model before they were adopted by Makoto, but Kisumi had met Nagisa and Rei and upon meeting Rin and Haruka, both parties knew that they didn’t like the other one. They kept it hidden, but an incident happened on the first night when Kisumi came to visit which led to Rin and Haruka accidentally exchanging a kiss.

Because of all these circumstances Haruka had run away, back to Iwatobi, on the day of New Years. Kisumi had spotted him and immediately contacted Makoto and lend him his car to go get Haruka back. He did so much for Makoto to help him get back what was the most important to him. After this, Haruka and Kisumi had talked things over and started getting along after that.

One could argue that it was Sousuke’s fault that Rin and Haruka became friends again. Sousuke had pulled a prank on Haruka by saying that Rin had gotten lost in Shinjuku, while the boy had actually just been in the restroom. Haruka, however, had believed Sousuke entirely and ended up running all the way to Shinjuku because he had heard there was a serial killer and wanted to save Rin before it was too late. He ended up being spotted on TV, by Rin, who was safe and sound elsewhere in Tokyo. Rin had then rushed to get Haruka back, because, despite everything, they were brothers and friends. None of them wanted to let the other die if they could do something about it.

Thankfully the two found each other in time before they were found by the serial killer. They even managed to make up because they realized how much they really cared about each other. But they were found by the serial killer before they got out of Shinjuku. Fortunately the police stepped in, in time to save their lives. Then Rin and Haruka had run off, before the police could manage to ask them any questions about what had happened.

It has to be mentioned that Nagisa had a classmate named Matsuoka Gou who looked a lot like Rin. Within a matter of months she had taken a great interest in both Rin and Haruka, believing they were her older brothers. After looking at some documents that were created when Rin and Haruka arrived at the orphanage, and taking a blood test at the hospital, their relation was finally determined and Rin and Haruka were able to reunite with their biological mother and younger sister. But they decided to stay with Makoto, Rei and Nagisa, because they felt more at home with the three of them.

Shortly after everything had been cleared out, Kisumi had come up with an offer that the Tachibana family could live with him because he had plenty of room and wasn’t poor. It would mean Makoto was able to work a bit less than before and could spend time with his precious family.

They had now lived in this apartment for two years, Rin, Haruka, Makoto, Rei, Nagisa and Kisumi all together. So far things were going well, but Haruka had a gut feeling that peace won’t last forever. In fact he was sure of it. It had also been peaceful at their old home in Iwatobi, but that had been taken away from him within two weeks.

“Haru?” Rin entered the room, the smile in place on his face. “What are you doing?” he asked once he saw Haruka lying on the bed.

Haruka just looked up at Rin and said nothing. What was there to say anyway? He hadn’t been doing anything at all.

“Yazaki-san just texted me, asking if we wanted to swim with her, Ai and Sousuke at Sasabe’s swim club?” Rin asked.

Haruka didn’t need that sentence to be repeated twice. To swim involved a pool, and a pool was by far the best thing he could think of. Not even beaten by his ‘beloved’ mackerel.

“You’re not packing anything?” Rin asked.

“I’m wearing my swimsuit,” Haruka answered.

“You still need a towel or Makoto and Matsuoka-san are both gonna kill me,” Rin said.

Haruka sighed. Since two years ago when he and Rin had learned that they were really twins and that Rin was the older twin, Rin had been very dutiful about his role as the older one and attempted to look out for Haruka as much as he could. Only problem was, Haruka certainly wasn’t in need of someone looking out for him. Honestly he believed Rin was more in need of someone to look after him.

Rin sighed too and went to grab the second towel and pack it in his bag. They then headed towards the entrée of the apartment but were stopped when Rei called out to them.

“Where are you two going?” he asked.

“Out for a swim with Sousuke and the others,” Rin said.

“With Sou-chan, Ai-chan and Zaki-chan?” Nagisa came running from his seat next to Rei, his face shining brightly with joy. “Can I come with?”

“Weren’t you supposed to do extra studies?” Haruka asked the youngest boy.

Nagisa pouted. “But it’s so boring, and Rei-chan is too busy doing stuff on the laptop to pay attention to me and help out,” he whined.

Rei sighed. “I don’t mind you going,” he said. “I bet a swim would do Nagisa some good,” he fixed his glasses and put his focus back on the laptop screen.

“Rei-chan’s the best!” Nagisa declared

Rin rolled his eyes. “Fine, but hurry it up,” he demanded.

Nagisa smiled, and within a couple of minutes he had gathered his swimsuit and a towel and was ready to leave with Rin and Haruka.

“Should I ask Momo-chan, Gou-chan and Hana-chan if they want to come?” he asked.

“Didn’t Gou leave with a friend of hers to Kyoto the other day?” Rin asked.

Nagisa smiled sheepishly. “Oh yeah, then just Momo-chan,”

“I don’t care,” Rin said. “Do whatever you want,”

Nagisa texted his best friend and classmate, Mikoshiba Momotaro, asking him to come meet them. The group slowly headed out, towards their destination. This was the only issue with Kisumi’s place. They were living a little further away from everything than before. If they wanted to take a short detour that led them another way past the school, they would actually pass by the building where they first moved in. They sometimes did that if Rin wanted to meet up with Sousuke. He still lived there.

“Is Rei really that boring to be around?” Haruka asked curiously.

“Yeah,” Nagisa answered while looking down at his shoes. “He is so focused on his studies right now, even if collage doesn’t start until tomorrow either,”

Neither Rin, nor Haruka knew what to say. Nagisa and Rei were really close, just as close as they were, but unlike Rei and Nagisa, Rin and Haruka had the benefit of being in the same year and doing the same things, and having the same interests. Rei was starting his second year of college and Nagisa was starting his second year of high school and while Rei still felt responsible for Nagisa, it was visible that something in their relationship was about to change. Haruka had a theory that they were growing apart, but he had yet to speak to anyone about it.


	3. Nanami

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We are introduced to the first new characters of this story and Rin's and Haruka's new homeroom teachers gets extremely confused.

It was another school year. Rin, Haruka and Nagisa were all heading towards the school. On the way there they took the detour past Sousuke’s building and met up with him there.

“Sou-chan!” Nagisa waved as Sousuke exited the building. A mother and a little girl, who couldn’t be in more than 4th grade at max, came out behind him.

“Hey Sousuke,” Rin smiled at his friend as they reached him.

“Yamasaki-kun,” the mother said while looking up at Sousuke. “Are you and your friends going to the high school?” she asked.

“Yeah…” Sousuke looked at her wondering what she wanted. So did Rin and Nagisa. Haruka just stared into space, being distant as always when he thought the situation didn’t matter to him.

“I hate to ask this, but I’m really busy with work and have to send Nanami to school, but I’m worried about letting her go alone at such a young age, could you see that she gets there safely?” she asked.

“Leave it to us, ma’am!” Nagisa said with a bright smile.

“Thank you,” the mother said. “Nanami, you stay with Yamasaki-kun and his friends and do what they tell you until you make it to school, okay?”

The daughter nodded in response.

“Good, then I’ll see you this afternoon,” the mother pressed her lips against her daughter’s forehead for a brief second before leaving quickly.

The four boys ended up walking with the girl to school. Nagisa kept on talking to her and she kept on listening to his conversation. Though her attention was elsewhere. Apparently Haruka was way more interesting than the blonde teen.

“Her name is Miyano Nanami,” Sousuke said. “Her mother’s name is Miyano Hiroko. She’s a police officer,”

“What about her father?” Rin asked.

“They’re divorced. I don’t know him,” Sousuke answered simply. “She and her mother moved into your old place a year and a half ago,”

“So, Nana-chan,” Nagisa spoke to the girl. “What grade are you in?” he asked.

“Third,” Nanami answered quietly.

“You don’t talk so much, are you shy?” Nagisa asked.

Nanami didn’t answer that question. Something in her expression told them that she didn’t want to answer it.

Nagisa let out a sigh. “You’re just like Haru-chan, he doesn’t talk much either and speaks through his facial expressions,”

This caused Nanami to send Haruka an admiring look.

Shortly after they reached the school. They stopped by the entrance to the high school building. The elementary school building was on the other side of the street, so one of them had to cross it to make sure Nanami got there safely.

“I’ll go,” Haruka said as all of them turned to look over at the building. “I’ll make it in time for class,” he assured before grabbing the little girl’s hand and heading across the street.

“You sure, Haru-chan?” Nagisa said.

Rin laughed. “If Haru says he’ll make it, then he’ll make it, no doubt,” and so Haruka walked Nanami across the street.

“Thank you, Haru-chan-sama,” Nanami said as they reached the entrance of the school building.

Haruka nodded. “My name is Nanase Haruka,” he said, indirectly correcting the young girl.

“Thank you, Nanase-sama,” she said instead and walked into the school building. Haruka headed back to the high school building and went to class, making it just in time before class started.

Again this year, Rin and Haruka were in the same class. Aki, Ai and Sousuke were all in different classes from them. This year they had a new homeroom teacher.

The first thing their new teacher did was calling out the names of her students to ensure everyone was there and to learn their names and faces.

“Tsuchida Nari-san?” she called.

“Yes,” the girl answered.

“Toyama Satoshi-kun?” the teacher called

“Yes,” the said boy answered.

“Nanase Haruka-san?” she called, causing the entire class to fall silent. Everybody exchanged looks. Out of policy, some tried to hold back their giggles. Rin was among those. Haruka decided it wasn’t worth answering. This was what he had done in elementary school and middle school too when someone had mistaken his name for a girl’s.

“Excuse me,” Rin said after getting his giggles under control. “Haru’s a boy,”

Due to the confused expression on their teacher’s face, everyone in the class except Haruka started laughing, or at least giggling, unable to fight it any longer.

From this situation, Haruka could just determine that things were just like they had always been. This mistake was common to him by now.

The teacher continued for a bit and then hesitated at another name.

“…Fujioka Kyou-kun?” she asked.

Again the class started laughing, seeing as Fujioka Kyou was actually a female student. The mistake was corrected and they could continue until…

“Matsuoka Rin-san?”

Nobody could hold their laughter in after that. Even Haruka had to smile, but when he caught Rin’s eye he noticed just how irritated the other was. He put on a poker-face and hoped that the others would stop laughing soon. It would be for their own good.

“Yes, I’m a boy too by the way,” Rin answered as calmly as possible (which wasn’t very calm).

The teacher sighed, silently praying that there would be no more students with confusing first names.

* * *

 

“Did she seriously confuse you too?” Sousuke was trying to contain his laughter, though it was a battle he had already lost. “They didn’t even do it with Nanase once we started high school, did they?”

It was at lunch break and Haruka and Rin had met up with Sousuke, Aiichirou and Aki to have lunch together on the roof of the school building. It was still a tradition they kept despite being in different classes.

Rin frowned. “You’re getting a kick out of this,” he mumbled.

Aki smiled. “You did tell us that Nanase-kun usually got mistaken for being a girl because of his first name, but you never mentioned it could happen to you as well,” she informed.

“That’s because it never did happen to me,” Rin said, his voice rising a bit in irritation.

“Then why did it happen?” Aiichirou asked in curiosity.

“It was Fujioka-san’s fault,” Rin mumbled.

“Fujioka Kyou-san?” Aki asked. “The ace of the girls volleyball team? That Fujioka-san?”

Rin nodded. “Yeah, her,”

“How can it be her fault, she’s so sweet, we were in the same class in elementary school and she really backed me up when I tried out the volleyball club in the beginning of middle school,” Aki said.

“You tried that, Yazaki-san?” Aiichirou asked.

“Yeah,” Aki smiled. “It was fun to begin with, but I wasn’t very good at it and would rather spend my time swimming,” she explained. She then turned back to Rin. “But how can it be her fault?” she asked.

“Her name works for boys as well,” Rin said. “Our new teacher got confused by Haru’s name and then even more confused by her name and therefore messed up mine,” he said.

“I guess it’s bad luck for your family today,” Aiichirou said. “Momo-kun just texted me that their new teacher mistook Hazuki-kun for female as well,”

Rin grinned. “Suddenly I’m not so mad about this whole incident anymore,” he said. This caused everyone to show an amused reaction. Aiichirou and Aki both chuckled, Sousuke smiled and Haruka just let it show through his eyes.


	4. Application

Only about a week after starting school all the third year students were handed a sheet of paper and asked to explain their plans after high school. Rin, Haruka, Sousuke, Aki and Aiichirou worked on them during the lunch break.

“What are you planning on writing?” Aki asked while holding her pencil in hand and giving her own paper a thoughtful look.

“Haru and I have had our plans for about two years now,” Rin said. “Both of us are set on going to Australia and swim there, if possible of course,”

“I’ve meant to ask this for a while,” Aiichirou looked up at Rin. “But why Australia, isn’t it easier here in Japan?”

Rin grinned. “I’ve got a feeling that if Haru and I want to become the best swimmers, Japan is a little too small and limits our options. Australia gives us a broader set of options,”

“It’s not a bad idea,” Sousuke said. “But have you even gotten scouted by people from Australia yet?”

“No,” Rin said in a tone that practically screamed that it was obvious. “Not by Australian people anyway, but since the international tournament last year we have been asked by people from China, Malaysia and even some French guy to come swim for their country,”

“I was also asked by one from Brazil,” Haruka added while thoughtfully tapping his paper with the pencil.

“Seriously?” Rin turned his head to Haruka. “Those guys didn’t even ask me, and you didn’t say anything!” a hint of disappointment could be seen in his eyes.

Haruka just nodded and Rin turned back to the others to get back on topic.

“So you see it’s only a matter of time. Other countries are already taking interest in us and I think we have been asked by almost every university in Japan to go there,”

“I wish I could say the same,” Aiichirou mumbled. “I have no idea what I actually want,”

“Neither do I,” Aki said while putting on a brave smile. “But I’m sure we’ll both figure something out in time,”

“What about you, Sousuke?” Rin asked.

Sousuke seemed to think too. “I have narrowed down my options but there are still a few,”

“Alright,” Rin smiled in return. “Just don’t take too long thinking,”

They kept on talking about the matter of future plans until lunch break was over and they had to head back to class. The following day, everyone had to hand in their papers and discuss it with their teacher.

In Rin’s and Haruka’s case their teacher really didn’t have much to say on the matter. Their plans of the future were so specific she had trouble pointing out anything they would have to consider, but she did discuss with them how they wanted to get into a university in Australia.

“You have to consider it seriously,” she told Rin while he was in for the consultation. “Think about what you want to do. If you don’t get scouted by people from Australia, then what are you going to do?”

Rin sighed. “What do you suggest?” he asked, knowing she had an idea she wanted to force on him.

“Both you and Nanase-kun prepare an application for university in Australia and hand it over to me next Monday. You have to write it as if you were not scouted but are still set on your plans. Also think up a plan B if you are not accepted into an Australian university,” the teacher demanded.

Rin nodded, able to see the logical thinking behind that idea. But he didn’t feel like doing it. It felt like he was admitting defeat before he had even gotten started on anything.

But now their teacher was expecting them to do it, and therefore Rin had no other option than go tell Haruka what was asked of them and actually do it.

None of the two had imagined they would spend their night discussing university applications and plan B’s for what they would do if they were not accepted.

“You two sure are working hard,” Rei said as he passed by the two sometime past 9.

“We were tasked with this, we have to do it,” Rin said.

Haruka looked up. “I’m done,” he said.

Rin blinked. “I don’t believe that,” he said before reaching out a hand towards Haruka. “Let me see,”

As he asked this, Nagisa peaked in his head to see what was going on. Rei was still standing in the doorway, just observing.

Haruka handed the paper over to Rin, who read it in a matter of seconds. He slammed it down on the table, making a loud noise that also caused Makoto and Kisumi to come running from the next room.

“I only swim free! Seriously is that all the English you have learned!” Rin yelled.

‘Basically yes,’ was what was written all over Haruka’s face.

Rin leaned back, letting out one of the heaviest sighs in a lifetime. “Erase it Haru and write something serious,” Rin said.

“I’m serious,” Haruka said.

“Give me a break, you’re not even pretending!” Rin yelled again.

“Maybe it’s best if you don’t do it together,” Makoto advised kindly as he stepped into the room. “Haru, I’ll help you with yours,” he said before leaving the room. Haruka silently stood up and followed Makoto outside.

Everyone let out a breath, relieved that another fight had been prevented. Sure Rin and Haruka were arguing a lot less than they used to. It had continuously decreased from when they moved in with Makoto, but now the remaining family members had become good at detecting the few fights that occurred and prevent most of them from happening. Makoto was still the best at the job, but as long as someone stepped in, it didn’t matter who.

“What are you working on, Rin-chan?” Nagisa asked out of curiosity.

“A layout for my application to a university in Australia,” Rin answered while writing another sentence on his own paper.

“What for?” Nagisa asked.

“Because our teacher asked us to,” Rin answered.

Nagisa wondered. “Weird, my teacher didn’t ask me,” he said with a bright smile on his face.

“That’s because you’re only in your second year and have way too many ideas on what you want to do after graduation,” Rin answered in a somewhat irritated tone.

Rei picked up on this and gently placed a hand on Nagisa’s shoulder. “Your math is still troubling you, isn’t it?” he asked.

“Yeah?” Nagisa looked up.

“Go to our room, I’ll come help you in a minute,” Rei said with a kind smile. “I just need to pick up something first,”

Nagisa nodded quickly. “Okay, Rei-chan!” he said before heading off to the room that he and Rei shared.

As Rei and Nagisa left, Rin looked up again to see that Kisumi was still standing in the doorway. He was carefully watching the teen as he kept on writing, even if he was pretending not to be interested through his body language.

“Do you want something?” Kisumi asked, trying to pretend like he had just noticed Rin looking at him.

“I just wanna know what exactly is needed for an application for a university. Am I missing something?” Rin asked while slightly hesitantly showing the application layout to the older male.

Kisumi took a quick look at the sheet of paper. “Your physical skills are well explained and I suppose it’s appropriate because you are going for the sake of swimming, but I would at least mention what I am good at in school, that you are actually good at English is an important factor that could give you an advantage over other students applying for the same reasons as you,” he said before sending the sheet back.

Rin nodded and wrote down a few more sentences. “What about things I’m bad at?” he asked.

“Leave them out unless they’re of importance to your study,” Kisumi said. “They don’t need to know your lacks on irrelevant stuff,”

Rin nodded and looked through the application. He smiled, satisfied at his own work. “I guess that’ll do for now, thanks Kisu-me,” he said.

“Careful Rin,” Kisumi warned. “I might just take you on the word someday,” he smiled and waved before leaving the room where Rin was also smiling. Ever since they had moved in Kisumi’s apartment and Rin had confessed the joke he had made about Kisumi’s name, the other had just laughed and said everyone had made that joke for as long as he could remember. Since then it had almost been accepted as a nickname for the model, and he wasn’t bothered by it at all.


	5. Representatives

On the following day it was Sunday. Rin woke up to the sound of someone cooking. He had to turn and check the clock to see if he had overslept. It was past 8. He really had overslept. He would have to shorten his morning run a bit.

Rin hurried out of bed and got dressed before heading outside. On his way out he peaked into the kitchen to see Makoto preparing their breakfast, and Nagisa sitting by the dining table, doing something. Rin couldn’t tell what it was though.

“Good morning, Rin,” Makoto said with a smile in Rin’s direction.

“Morning,” Rin said.

Nagisa dropped whatever he had and hurried up. “Can I join you today Rin-chan?” he asked.

“You’re not ready, so no,” Rin said while glaring at Nagisa’s light blue pajamas with penguin motives on. It was a bit too short for him. He had had it since he was 12 and refused to get rid of it when Makoto had only thought of suggesting it.

“Okay,” Nagisa’s head sank and he looked down before heading back to whatever he was doing.

“You have to hurry,” Makoto advised. “I’m done in less than 15 minutes,”

“I won’t run far,” Rin assured before putting on his shoes and running out the door.

The running in the morning wasn’t something Rin would do every day. He mostly did it on Sundays and during breaks, like the spring break and Golden Week and such. Aside from that, he only ran in the morning when he couldn’t seem to fall back asleep. Sometimes he would run with others, Haruka would join him during the breaks, Rei and Makoto would run with him if they had the time and Nagisa would just randomly ask if he could come along, just like today. Rin would run with Sousuke in the afternoon or at night depending on if he went to swimming practice or not.

Makoto had tried to make the running a family thing. They had only been out on that once. Kisumi, who had also been there, had lost his breath a little too easily and declared that he was out of practice when it came to running. Makoto had agreed and stopped to wait for Kisumi. Rei and Nagisa had slowly fallen behind because they kept on talking. At first Rin had been in on the conversation, but when Haruka had pulled way ahead of him, he just couldn’t stand it and did his best to keeping up with Haruka for the rest of the run. After that, all six of them agreed that they would never do this again.

When Rin returned after 10 minutes of constant running and entered the apartment, he found a letter lying on the dining table next to Nagisa.

“What’s that?” Rin asked.

“Don’t know,” Nagisa said. “Haru-chan just put it there and went into your room with his own,”

“He got out of the tub by himself for a change?” Rin asked.

“No, Mako-chan asked him to get out and get our mail,” Nagisa answered.

Rin grabbed the letter and opened it. He took out the paper the envelope held and read it slowly. He then quickly headed to the room he shared with Haruka, to see if they had got the same letter.

Haruka didn’t react as Rin slammed the door open. He stood, fully dressed with the letter in hand, carefully looking over it as if he wanted to see if it could be a fake or something.

“Did you get it too?” Rin asked, almost out of breath with excitement.

Haruka looked up then and nodded once. He held out his letter as Rin could read it too. However, the other only needed one look at the paper to determine it was the same thing they’d got.

“The way this is going I highly doubt there’ll be a need for a plan B,” Rin said with a wide grin before hurrying back to the kitchen to help out by laying the table. Haruka followed shortly after, but was send away again to go drag Kisumi out of bed and tell Rei that breakfast was ready.

They were all gathered and sat around the table to have breakfast together. It was a tradition they tried to keep on Sundays. It didn’t always work out because sometimes Kisumi had a shooting early in the morning and sometimes Makoto would take an extra shift in the hospital for the sake of another doctor. Sometimes Nagisa would stay at Momo’s place or Rin would stay at Sousuke’s, but they all tried to stick together at least.

“When are you retiring from modelling?” Makoto asked Kisumi.

“It won’t be long now,” Kisumi answered with a saddened smile. “Until the end of May I guess and then I’ve already gotten a spot at the stylist education,”

“What is it going to mean for our economy?” Rei asked concerned.

Kisumi thought. “I won’t be able to bring in any money until I’m done educating. But seeing as the job as a full-time model has brought in a lot of money it’s not going to be a big issue,” he finished.

Rei still looked concerned.

“So, Rin-chan?” Nagisa looked over at Rin. “What’d the letter say?”

Rin nodded. “Oh yeah, Haru and I have been chosen to swim for the national junior team during the international swim tournament in Australia,” he said while smiling around at everyone. Haruka made a small imitation of a nod.

Makoto smiled. “That’s great news. When is it?” he asked.

“Don’t know… by the end of June and a couple of days ahead of that,” Rin said.

“The tournament starts half way through Golden Week but we leave at the beginning for pre practice in Australia,” Haruka answered.

“Will you be able to make it back in time for school?” Kisumi asked.

“Probably not,” Rin said before eying the clock. “We’ve got extra practice today! Haru, hurry,” Rin said before swallowing his food. Haruka hurried as well. If they didn’t they would be late for the practice.

“When’s it done?” Kisumi called out as the two got up and went to wash their dishes.

“Around 1 in the afternoon,” Rin said.

“Good, when you’re done and get out, go down the street to the left and then turn right. Continue that way until you see a white building with huge windows on your right hand. I’ll wait for you outside,” Kisumi said.

“What’s that for?” Makoto asked. He hadn’t heard any of this before now either.

“I have been asked to bring you all along for today’s photo shooting. I think they’re planning something big about me for next month’s issue of the model magazine. You have also been asked to do interviews later on,” Kisumi answered with a bright smile.

“Couldn’t you inform us of that a bit earlier next time?” Rei complained as he placed his chopsticks on top of his bowl to show that he was done.

Kisumi smiled. “I thought it’d work better as a surprise,” he said.

“It sure is interesting,” Makoto said. “When are the rest of us going to meet there?” he then asked.

“I’ll bring you along when I leave,” Kisumi answered.

“Well, we’re off,” Rin said from the hallway. While the others had been talking, Rin and Haruka had packed their bags and were now on their way out. “We’ll see you this afternoon then,”

“See you,” Kisumi waved.

“Have fun!” Nagisa reminded them before the door closed and Rin and Haruka ran down the stairs to make it to practice in time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm glad to see that there are people who like this story and wants to read it. I don't really have much to write in the notes these days, but I figure that you are reading this for the story, and not for my notes. Anything else would be a little boring.   
> It means a lo to me that someone likes my work, that's all that matters to me. 
> 
> I'll see you next time.   
> Jackie


	6. Modeling

“What do you think that interview is gonna be about?” Rin asked once Haruka finally returned from the shower after swimming practice. Rin was already done drying himself off and half-dressed by the time.

“How would I know?” Haruka asked before opening the locker where he kept his stuff. He took the towel and dried his body at such a speed that Rin knew he was still wet.

“You know you need to dry yourself off better,” he said as Haruka put away the towel again and grabbed a fresh pair of swimming trunks.

There was no response to his state, but Rin had already figured as much. Only Makoto could confront Haruka about something and maybe get a reaction out of him.

“But seriously Haru, why would they interview us in the first place? We aren’t even related to him,” he said.

“I don’t know, maybe because we live with him?” Haruka answered slightly irritated while getting himself dressed.

Rin slipped his shirt over his head. “That is a reason I suppose… I’ve never been interviewed before,”

“We could’ve been,” Haruka stated, causing Rin to look at him.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“If we hadn’t run from the police that day or turned ourselves in,” Haruka answered.

Rin took a moment to realize what Haruka was actually talking about. His face turned strangely serious when he finally did. “You’re right,” he simply said before allowing himself to sit down on the bench. He was done getting dressed and now only waiting for Haruka.

They were both silent as Haruka finished getting dressed. They then picked up their bags and left the place, still in silence. 

* * *

 

There weren’t many people outside. Haruka and Rin looked at each other. None of them remembered Kisumi’s directions from that same morning. They had been in such a hurry that they had only heard half of them anyway.

“Text Makoto,” Haruka demanded.

“No you do it,” Rin said. “I don’t even know what to write anyway,”

Haruka sighed and got his phone out of his pocket and send Makoto a quick text, asking for the directions for where they were to meet. He got a reply within five minutes with the directions and could thereby lead the way to where they would, hopefully, find Kisumi.

They reached the right building within 10 minutes. The doors in the building opened and Kisumi stepped outside just as they reached the door.

“There you are, just in time,” he said and smiled at both Rin and Haruka. “Come on and hurry, the shooting will start in five minutes,” he said before dragging both of them inside with him.

They went inside the building and got into an elevator. Kisumi hit a bottom that appeared to get them to the 2nd floor of the building. Kisumi then led them outside and down a hallway, then turned right and went down another and then into one of the many rooms located on the floor.

“Hello!” he said while waving at everyone in the room. Rin and Haruka looked around the room as a few waved back. Makoto was one of them. He was sitting in a corner with Rei and Nagisa. Rei was busy correcting something about Nagisa’s outfit while Nagisa attempted to shrug it off.

By a table, with lots of make-up on, a man stood. He was dressed in a suit and looked pretty strict. Next to him was a woman with curly blonde hair, held in a ponytail. She held a camera in hand and was clearly focused on cleaning the lens.

Another woman sat with a laptop and a block of paper. Her hair was short and she was dressed in tight clothes. She had a pen in her hand. Haruka guessed she had to be the journalist who would interview them later on.

Another man, wearing a black suit, was leaning against one of the other walls in the room. He wasn’t doing anything but he answered Kisumi’s wave with a relaxed smile.

“It won’t be long now,” he said after checking his watch. “You’re just on time”.

Makoto looked at Rin and Haruka, his gaze ended up focused on Haruka’s, still, very damp hair. A slightly exhausted expression appeared on his face.

“Haru,” he stood up and opened Haruka’s bag to get the towel from in there. “It’s not healthy to walk around outside with your hair like that,” he said before placing the towel on Haruka’s head.

“I tried saying the same thing,” Rin mumbled.

Haruka moved the towel around on his head for about two seconds before removing it.

The man by the table full of make-up walked up to them. “Actually, it might be better if both of you had your hair dried completely,” he said. Before anyone could react he had dragged Rin and Haruka to the table and started drying their hair with a hairdryer.

While the guy was at it with Rin’s and Haruka’s hair, Kisumi decided to introduce the strangers. The man, styling their hair was a stylist, the woman with the camera was the photographer, the woman with the block was, as Haruka had correctly assumed, the journalist, and the man in the black suit was Kisumi’s manager for a little while longer. His name was Kobayashi Rin.

They didn’t get time for anything else because as soon as the stylist was done, it was time to line up for that picture they needed.

“Shigino-san and Tachibana-san stand in the back,” the photographer instructed. “Matsuoka-kun, stand to Shigino-san’s left, Nanase-kun, half in front of Shigino-san and Matsuoka-kun, and Ryugazaki-san… stand next to Tachibana-san to the right,” she then waited until the mentioned ones had gotten into position.

“What about me?” Nagisa asked.

“Hazuki-kun…” the photographer looked at the others while trying to find a place where Nagisa could be. There weren’t many. “Hazuki-kun… you might just be short enough, stand in the very front, between Nanase-kun and Ryugazaki-san,” she said.

Nagisa stood there and the photographer nodded her head with a smile. “Just perfect,” she said. “Now try looking natural,” she said. She continued on instructing them to look as naturally as possible. Kisumi was good at it, and Rin wasn’t bad either, she also gave Haruka an approving smile and amused by Nagisa. She wasn’t too satisfied with Rei and Makoto, claiming they were a little too stiff.

Finally the picture was taken and the manager, Kobayashi walked up to them with a bright smile on his face. “That was actually great!” he said.

“Thanks, Rin-san,” Kisumi answered.

Kobayashi looked at Rin and Haruka. “I was wondering though, why were both of you so damp when you arrived?” he asked.

“We’re swimming,” Rin answered. “We’d just finished practice when we got here,”

“Are you good at it?” Kobayashi asked.

“We’ve been chosen for an international event so I’d say we are,” Rin said.

“I see,” Kobayashi had a thoughtful look on his face and Haruka picked up on that. He couldn’t seem to read it though.

“Kobayashi-san, why do you ask?” he questioned.

Kobayashi smiled. “I was just wondering… have the two of you ever considered modelling as a career?” he asked, catching both Rin and Haruka off guard. “I mean you have the body-type for it, and a natural talent to go along with it. You’d both become very successful if you followed that path,” he said.

Rin and Haruka exchanged one look. None of them had ever considered modelling before. The thought had never crossed their mind in the slightest.

“Thank you,” Rin said. “But Haru and I are already set on swimming on an international level,” he explained.

“That’s just too bad,” Kobayashi smiled. “Well, if you ever change your mind just give me a call and we can make some arrangements,” he said before handing both Rin and Haruka a small white card, holding both his name and phone number.

All Haruka cared about when it came to that card was the fact that Kobayashi’s and Rin’s first names were spelled with the same kanji.


	7. Interview

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Weird questions are being asked, creating an awkward scene and more references to Free Parenting.

Shortly after the photos had been taken, the photographer and the stylist had left them. Kobayashi-san and the journalist were still there. The journalist had taken all of them into a different room with a round table in the middle and 8 chairs around it. At the center of the table were a pot of tea, another of coffee and 8 cups along with a bowl of fruits and a plate with cookies,

“Strange,” Rei commented.

“What’s so strange about it?” the journalist asked.

Rei hesitated for a bit to put his words together before answering. “I thought an interview would seem more official than this,” he said.

“Some are,” the journalist responded. “But this interview will not be used until in two weeks time,” she said. “It doesn’t have to be so official looking,”

Rei nodded and took a seat around the table along with everyone else.

“So, help yourselves,” Kobayashi-san said. “Get something to eat and drink, it’s all here for us anyway,” he smiled at Makoto and his family while following his own words and helping himself to a cup of coffee.

Makoto started pouring tea into cups and handing a cup to each of his adopted sons. Kisumi and the journalist had coffee as well. Nagisa grabbed himself a cookie while scanning the bowl of fruits for strawberries, with negative results.

“I want to start with a simple question for all of you,” the journalist said. “What is your relationship to Shigino-san?” She looked at Makoto first, seeing as he was the oldest one.

“Kisumi and I were childhood friends. We have gone to the same elementary school, middles school and high school,” Makoto explained. “We stuck together for as long as I can remember. We had a falling out when he went to Tokyo but picked up right where we left off once we met again. He’s a dear friend to me and has done a lot for me,”

The journalist then looked at the four adopted boys.

“For me and Nagisa, Kisumi-san was always a dear friend of the family,” Rei said. “He came in our house a lot ever since we were adopted and except for Makoto he was the first who was willing to look through our troublesome sides and befriend us. It meant a lot to me, but I think to Nagisa the most,” At this, Rei looked down at Nagisa, who nodded in agreement while taking a bite of the cookie.

The journalist then looked to Rin and Haruka.

“To us, in the beginning, Kisumi was that guy who wanted to take our family away from us,” Rin said. “We hadn’t even met him before we decided that we hated him and would do anything to drive him away, but we learned to accept each other and after we moved in with him, we have become friends,”

The journalist nodded. “That’s some story. So, Tachibana-san, you said you and Shigino-san had a falling-out. What caused that and how did you get back together as friends?”

Makoto smiled. “Well, it’s about 11 years ago now, when Kisumi got scouted as a model he suddenly had to move from Iwatobi and we didn’t really have the time to see each other as much anymore. We lost touch with each other for eight years, until I had to move to Tokyo as well with my own family and suddenly ran into him in the hospital by coincidence. After that, we started seeing each other again and we spent a lot of time together,” Makoto explained.

“I’ve heard you moved in together, but what’s the reason for that?” the journalist asked, she was still speaking to Makoto.

“Well…” Makoto took a sip of his tea. “Iwatobi hospital had to shut down because of financial trouble and I was moved to Tokyo and had to bring my family along. When we got there I had to work a lot more for a lot less than I was used to, to keep on making a living for my family. I had no time to see the boys because of work. Kisumi helped me out a lot by taking care of them in my place, but we couldn’t keep it up, and in the end Kisumi just offered that we could move in with him because there’s a lot more room in his apartment and the job as model gives him a lot more than I earn on a monthly basis, that gave me more time to spend with my family,”

“Rumor has it that there is a little more than just a close friendship going on between you and Shigino-san. Is there anything true to those rumors?” the journalist questioned while writing down keywords for Makoto’s previous answer.

Rin and Haruka exchanged looks of disbelief, Rei was literally shocked by the question, while Nagisa and Makoto didn’t understand a thing.

“A little more than a close friendship?” Makoto asked. “What would that be?”

“Are you trying to put a scandal over my head just before my retiring?” Kisumi asked.

“No, I’m just trying to test the rumors,” the journalist smiled. “So is there?” she looked at Makoto.

“I still don’t even get the question,” Makoto said while feeling a slight pressure.

“She’s asking if you and Kisumi have a romantic relationship,” Rin said. He regretted this the next second and blushed slightly from embarrassment. So did Makoto.

“Eh… ah…” there was suddenly an awkward presence in the room that made everyone uncomfortable. “I… There isn’t… I guess,” Makoto said. “I mean, we’re close friends sure but… honestly I couldn’t picture myself in a romantic relationship with another man, not even Kisumi,”

“I see…” the journalist sounded very disappointed as she wrote that down as well. She then turned to Rin and Haruka. “You said that you didn’t get along with Shigino-san at first, what’s that story?”

“Rather long,” Rin answered, not feeling like explaining the whole adventure from three years ago.

“We’ve got plenty of time, do you mind telling it?” the journalist asked.

“Haru knows more of it than I do,” Rin said before eying Haruka. The journalist turned to him.

‘Why’d you have to put me on the spot?’ the glare Haruka send Rin, asked.

‘Just get on with it,’ was the response from Rin’s eyes.

Haruka sighed and started explaining the whole thing. “Makoto adopted us after Kisumi had been scouted. We didn’t know of him at all until we moved to Tokyo three years ago. We took an instant disliking to him and planned on having him take a disliking to us by driving him crazy, among our plans was making a staged argument. Though, things happened and it turned into a real argument. After that, Rin was never home when Kisumi came to visit and he and I just didn’t get along,” Haruka then stopped talking. He wasn’t sure if he should talk about what happened next.

“Then what caused things to go better?” the journalist asked, trying to encourage Haruka. Haruka responded by looking away, signaling that he didn’t want to talk about it.

“For reasons, I’m still not sure about, Haru ran away,” Kisumi continued the explanation in Haruka’s place. “I ran into him at the central station that same morning, but I only caught a glimpse. It was enough though. I talked to Makoto and explained the situation and lend him my car. Then I explained my side of the story to Makoto and later that night, when Makoto returned with Haru, we were able to sort things out and things got better from then on. First only with Haru, but later with Rin too,” Kisumi smiled at the journalist.

“That’s a bit of a story,” she said before writing down.

The interview continued and they spoke about a lot of stuff for almost two more hours before saying goodbye. When Kisumi and the Tachibana family were about to leave, Kobayashi went up to Rin and Haruka again with a serious look on his face.

“Don’t forget what we talked about. No matter what, my offer still stands,” he said.

“We’ll remember,” Rin assured.

Then they all went back to the apartment. Haruka made dinner, it was still something the family stuck with. He was really good at cooking. Makoto had even claimed once, that Haruka was better than him, to which Haruka had denied.

“So, we had our life stories spilled today,” Kisumi said as they sat around the table. “What do you think about having a taste of my work?”

Makoto laughed. “Fun, but a bit awkward, I must admit, do you get those weird questions a lot?” he was referring to when the journalist had asked if there was more than a friendship between him and Kisumi.

“Not often. Last time I got one was when they suggested I had a thing for my manager,”

“I’m glad we didn’t have that little kiss-scene with me and Haru involved or it would have been totally embarrassing,” Rin said.

“A kiss scene?” Nagisa asked. “When’d you guys kiss?”

Rin blushed. “Let’s not talk more about that!” he yelled, painfully aware of the embarrassment he had gotten himself into. This caused the others to laugh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Want to know why I didn't delete this chapter, seeing as there are two about the same things? It's simple really. I wanted to write the suggestions of a romantic relationship between Makoto and Kisumi, and Makoto's reaction. I also thought it could be fun to share with you reading this, so that's why.   
> I hope you liked the chapter, thanks for reading so far.   
> See you next time. 
> 
> Jackie


	8. Math

“Hazuki-kun, would you please come up here?”

Nagisa stood up and walked up to his math teacher to receive the test they had been doing earlier on this week. It had now been corrected. Half of his classmates had already received theirs. Nagisa stood by the teacher’s desk and awaited the results. The teacher looked at the paper.

“Your grades have dropped,” he said, showing the paper. “I don’t understand. You were at a standard level at your exams in 9th grade. Now you are barely making it through a pass, what’s going on?” he asked.

Nagisa bit his lower lip. “I don’t know,” he answered while looking at the crossed answers on the paper and not at his teacher’s face.

“Well, no matter what the problem is, it has to be fixed soon,” the teacher smiled. “At least you have gotten the hang of the fundamentals,”

Nagisa nodded and received the paper before heading back to his seat, listening as another of his classmates were summoned. A slightly gloomy expression was on his face and he kept on looking down all the way back to his seat, therefore he didn’t notice that Gou tried to make eye contact with him.

* * *

Nagisa was unusually silent during the lunch break. Chigusa and Gou were discussing something about Chigusa’s club activities and Momotaro was constantly trying to claim Gou’s attention with no luck. Normally Nagisa would take part in the conversation and distract Momotaro with a conversation about swimming or something else, but today his head was occupied with other things.

“Nagisa-kun,” Gou said suddenly. “How is Rin-senpai and Haruka-senpai doing?” occasionally she would ask about Rin and Haruka seeing as she was their younger sister, biologically, and had got the right to worry about them.

“They’re fine,” Nagisa said. “Both Rin-chan and Haru-chan are thinking a lot about the future,” he said.

“What are they planning on doing?” Gou asked curiously.

“I think swimming,” Nagisa answered. “They wanna go to Australia,”

“What about your other brother… Ryugazaki-san?” Chigusa asked. “He is studying, isn’t he?”

Nagisa nodded with a smile on his face. “Something about chemistry and biology,” he said.

“Isn’t it tough at an ordinary university?” Momotaro asked.

Gou turned to him. “Doesn’t your brother go to a university too? Why do you ask?”

Momotaro smiled. “He does go to university but it’s not an ordinary one. It’s for swimmers,” he smiled and leaned back, already finished his bento.

“So he is on the same path as Rin-chan and Haru-chan’s gonna follow?” Nagisa asked. “Your brother must be amazing,” he exclaimed, by now having returned to his usual cheerful self.

“He’s amazing yeah,” Momotaro smiled. “But I have had to get my amazingness from somewhere, don’t I?” he grinned widely and Nagisa approved.

* * *

 

After school, Nagisa headed home slowly. Haruka and Rin had had to go swimming today so they couldn’t walk home together like they did sometimes. It had been like this ever since they started high school. The first year Nagisa had had Rei to walk home with and gotten used to not walk home with the other two, which had made days like these easier for him. He didn’t like walking home alone very much, but it was only today it seemed to bother him.

For some reason, he found himself walking that little detour past the building where they used to live, and right outside he ran into someone whom he recognized.

“You were one of Yamazaki-kun’s friends weren’t you?” Miyano-san asked.

“Yeah, Hazuki Nagisa,” Nagisa asked.

Next to Miyano Hiroko was her daughter Nanami. She looked up at Nagisa with a shy smile on her face. “Isn’t Nanase-sama with you?” Nanami asked.

Nagisa shook his head. “Haru-chan had to do something else today,” Nagisa explained.

Miyano-san smiled. “Hazuki-kun, your brothers and yourself seem to be bounding well with Nanami. She hasn’t stopped talking about you ever since you walked her to school on the first day,” she smiled. “So I was wondering, since I work a lot in late hours and my ex-husband is away a lot, would you mind looking after Nanami every now and then?” she asked.

Nagisa looked at the girl. “Like… a babysitter?” he asked.

Miyano-san nodded. “Won’t that be fun, Nanami?” she asked.

Nanami nodded her head once.

Nagisa thought about that. Kisumi would lose his model job very soon and would earn nothing for a while. Both Makoto and Rei were very concerned about that loss of money and Rin and Haruka were unable to help out because of their training. If Nagisa accepted this offer then maybe he could help out.

“It’d be fun,” he declared. “I don’t mind doing it, but I’ve never had a job before,” he said.

Miyano-san smiled. “No worries. It’s nothing more than a couple of nights a week. I will be home before dinnertime and if I’m not, I’ll inform you and leave some dinner you can heat up,” she said.

Nagisa nodded. “Sounds good!” he said. “I have to go home now, Mako-chan’ll get worried,” He went past them and waved. “See you, Miyano-san, see you, Nana-chan!” he said before heading home, now in a much better mood than before. It had helped talking to someone.

* * *

 

After dinner at home, it was time to do homework. Nagisa hadn’t had the time to tell about his job because Rin had been busy talking about a new technique he had been taught today to make his butterfly stroke faster. It didn’t matter though. He could always tell them about this another day.

Now he had to focus on the important task at hand. He had to do what Rei had taught him to do long ago and go over his math test and try to figure out the right answers and thereby improve his own ability. He looked through them one by one but found himself stuck half way down the page, by a problem he hadn’t even been able to answer in class and therefore had skipped. There was only one thing he could do in this case.

Nagisa stood and walked to the bedroom that he and Rei shared. Rei was in there, using his laptop for something, Nagisa had no clue what it was.

“Rei-chan, could you help me out?” he asked.

“If it’s a problem, can’t you ask someone else?” Rei asked while not taking his eyes away from the screen. The light from it was reflecting in his glasses so Nagisa couldn’t even see his eyes.

“But it’s really difficult,” Nagisa said.

“I don’t have time,” Rei answered irritated. “I have my own studying to do,” he said.

Nagisa let out a sigh. “Sorry, Rei-chan,” he mumbled and closed the door, leaving Rei alone to his studies. He decided to look over the other tasks and solve them correctly and then move on to his other homework for English and modern literature.

Once he was done with the other homework it had been nearly two hours since he asked Rei for help. Figuring Rei would surely be done with most of his studying by now, Nagisa returned to the room.

“Rei-chan?” he asked as he opened the door. “I really need help,” he begged.

Rei still didn’t look up at him. “I told you to ask someone else,” he said coldly. He hadn’t even moved from the spot he sat in before.

“But Rei-chan!” Nagisa exclaimed.

“Stop acting so childish, Nagisa,” Rei demanded, only now looking up. “Can’t you see I’m doing something else? Leave me alone!” The last part was nearly a yell.

“I’m sorry, Rei-chan…” Nagisa trailed off before leaving the room again. This was the reason why he was failing in math. For a while now, he hadn’t been able to get the help he needed. Sure the others could solve the problem fine, but Rei-chan was the only one who could make Nagisa understand it. Why won’t he get that?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YES! We are finally done with the introduction and can get started on the plot! I hope you guys will like it. 
> 
> Jackie


	9. Worry

It was the day after Nagisa had accepted the task of babysitting Nanami while her mother wasn’t home. They had another lesson in math today and Nagisa kept struggling about the same problem, just staring at it, finding it to be an impossible obstacle.

“Hazuki-kun,” the teacher stopped by his desk. “You don’t appear to be doing anything,” His tone wasn’t particularly strict, but Nagisa felt slightly offended by the words he said.

“I’m stuck at this problem,” he said and pointed it out.

The teacher looked at it. “I didn’t think this would trouble you at all,” he smiled kindly, but to Nagisa it seemed like he was feeling amused about the whole thing.

“I don’t understand it,” Nagisa answered honestly.

“Why is that?” Again Nagisa noticed the smile.

“Because!” The last word was an outburst of both frustration and anger. Frustration that he didn’t understand and anger because the teacher was annoying.

“Hazuki-kun, I am not tolerating that kind of behavior in my class,” their teacher was also speaking loudly now. The entire class had stopped doing what they were doing to stare at the arguing teacher and student. “Gather your things and don’t come back to the math lessons until you can figure out what correct behavior is,”

Nagisa demonstratively gathered his things and left the classroom. He received humored looks from some of the boys in his class while looks of pity could be seen on Chigusa’s and Momotaro’s faces. Gou, on the other hand, had a puzzled look on her face, like she was trying to figure something out. Nagisa didn’t notice any of this though, because he was too ashamed to look at his classmates.

The hallways were empty once Nagisa got outside the classroom and he headed down the hallway, past the other 2nd year classrooms. Rin and Haruka could be located somewhere above. He wanted to go and talk to them about this matter, but they were in class.

Rei would of course have been the preferable choice to go talk to. Nagisa could only imagine what Rei could do. For some reason it seemed to Nagisa, like if Rei was here, he could clear out every single trouble he was facing and make everything okay. He had always had more faith in Rei than any of his other family members.

But Rei wasn’t here. Neither was Makoto for that matter. Nagisa was on his own, and at the rate things were going, it didn’t seem like he would have anyone to rely on anytime soon. He headed towards the elementary school building for reasons unknown.

Outside he noticed that the elementary school children were having a short break from class. They were all 3rd graders. He looked at them, watching their playfulness. He wished he could join, but in the same time he knew what Rei would say about it.

“No, Nagisa-kun, you’re way too old for that,”

Nagisa smiled at the thought. He wasn’t gonna do it anyway. He would just watch them for a short while, while wishing he and the others could grow back to that age.

“Hazuki-san?” a small voice came from beside Nagisa.

“Nana-chan?” Nagisa looked down at the small girl. “What do you want?” he asked.

“What are you doing here?” the girl asked in return.

“I’m on break too,” Nagisa answered while smiling. He didn’t want to tell he had been kicked out of math class and been told to never come back. It wasn’t something he needed to make little girls like Nanami worry about.

“Momma says that I should tell you that she is not gonna be home until 8 tonight. She asked me to wait for you until you were off and you would take care of me ‘till she came home,” the little girl said.

Nagisa smiled. “Sure, I’ll look after you all I can,” he said. “Maybe we can buy something on the way to your place?” he suggested.

“Strawberries?” Nanami asked curiously.

Nagisa smiled. “That’s what I was thinking!” he exclaimed. As he finished, the bell at the high school building started ringing, marking the beginning of lunch break. Nagisa turned to Nanami. “Wait over here, I’ll come pick you up after school,” he said.

“Okay,” the girl nodded before turning around and heading back to class. So did Nagisa.

* * *

After school Nagisa went to pick Nanami up. She was sitting and patiently waiting just outside the elementary school gates. It had been a while since her schoolmates had walked home. High school ended way later than elementary school did.

Nagisa felt bad for the girl and decided to hurry up and buy the strawberries for her as she could get home soon and not sit there and be bored. While he was at it, maybe he should buy an extra pack of strawberries, just because she deserved it, and because he was gonna eat half the strawberries anyway.

Nobody noticed them leave. Nagisa had been out of the classroom way before anyone else and nobody had even managed to leave the school building by then.

As they reached the apartment, Nanami opened the door with a tiny bit difficulty. Nagisa could tell she had rarely tried unlocking a door before and he remembered the door used to be tricky.

“Hazuki-san, you used to live here?” Nanami asked as she opened the door.

“Yeah,” Nagisa said. “Until two years ago, we moved in here after moving to Tokyo,” he said and both he and Nanami headed inside.

The two spent the afternoon watching TV and Nagisa even helped Nanami with her homework. This situation was new to him and he wasn’t very confident about it. He had always received help from Rei or Makoto, depending on how much homework Rei had to do.

They heated up the miso soup Miyano-san had left behind for them. According to Nanami, it was leftovers from the day before. Afterwards they had the strawberries.

Nagisa had put a DVD on about penguins, Nanami had requested it, and they were sitting and watching it when a realization suddenly hit Nagisa. He had never told his family about this new job and none of them knew that he had gone off to babysit Nanami. It was already way past dinner time and he was probably having them worried by now.

He looked to the watch in the kitchen. It was five minutes before 8. Miyano-san would be home soon. Then he checked his phone to see if he had any missed calls, but discovered that it was out of battery.

“What’s wrong, Nagisa-san?” Nanami had turned to call Nagisa by first name somewhere along the way. Nagisa had enjoyed that. It felt awkward with the formality, but with the honorific –san attached to it, he still felt slightly uncomfortable. Then again, Nanami also called Haruka by Nanase-sama. Maybe he had no need to complain.

“Nothing’s wrong, I just wondered if my family got worried about me,” Nagisa answered.

“Did you tell them where you go?” Nanami asked.

Nagisa shook his head. “I kinda forgot to do that,” he laughed.

“Then I’m sure they’re worried,” the girl answered.

Then the door opened and Miyano-san entered the apartment. She had an exhausted look on her face which Nagisa recognized from the time when he and his family had lived here. Makoto used to look like that.

“Thanks for taking care of Nanami,” Miyano-san said before handing Nagisa 2000 yen. She smiled at him. “It meant a lot to me. Has she caused too much trouble?” she asked.

Nagisa shook his head with a smile. “No, I had a lot of fun today,” he informed the woman. “I hope to do this some more,” he said.

“You shall be welcome,” Miyano-san answered. “It’s a huge help,”

Shortly after this, Nagisa went home, full of nervousness. How would the others feel when he came home this late without informing them of where he had been?

His worries were of no use though.

“Welcome back, Nagisa,” Makoto said as Nagisa entered the apartment. The others didn’t even bother to greet him. Haruka and Rin were busy doing something, probably homework. Rei was in the room he shared with Nagisa, and Kisumi was somewhere else in the apartment, out of Nagisa’s sight. It was obvious from the reactions from his family members that none of them had worried about him, not one bit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I still hope you don't find this story too weird or hard to understand. If so, please tell me if there is anything I can improve to make it easier for you and I'll check it out.   
> That's all I want to say for now. 
> 
> Jackie


	10. Awake

Tired from a long, exhausting day, Nagisa went to bed early. Makoto was updating the calendar when the young boy came to say goodnight.

“Goodnight, Mako-chan,” the boy said.

“Goodnight, Nagisa,” Makoto answered and looked up from his work to send Nagisa a brief smile. However, as his eyes met Nagisa’s, a feeling of unease rose in his chest and he felt the smile turn into a puzzled look.

“Something wrong, Mako-chan?” Nagisa asked, catching on to the change of expressions.

“No,” Makoto got his smile back in place. “Sleep well, Nagisa,” he said kindly to throw the boy off. He didn’t want any of them to worry about him and his train of thoughts. He would have forgotten about this soon anyway.

Nagisa went off to bed and Makoto turned back to his calendar writing, as he suspected, he had already forgotten everything about that weird feeling from a few minutes ago.

After finishing the update of the calendar, Makoto walked into the living room where Kisumi was sitting and watching TV. The sound was off, and it was understandable. What was on the screen was some kind of reality show which usually had way too much useless contents for Kisumi’s liking. Normally Makoto wouldn’t remove the sound but in truth, he wasn’t much into such things. None of them really were.

“What were you doing?” Kisumi asked

“Updating our calendar,” Makoto said.

“What did you add?” Kisumi asked. It did happen that Makoto would have to add a few things to that calendar and therefore sat and ‘updated’ it.

“Publish day of that magazine and the day of Rin’s and Haru’s trip to Australia,” Makoto said.

“Any more information on that trip?” Kisumi asked out of curiosity. “Are all their needs covered? Do we have to pay anything?”

Makoto shook his head. “The coach takes care of all of it. Their stay, their tickets, everything. All we have to do is make sure they get to the airport. I might not have the time, so in case I don’t, do you have the time to see them off?” Makoto asked.

“What’s the date?” Kisumi opened his phone to check his own calendar.

“Sunday before Golden Week,” Makoto answered.

“If I have to, I can go,” Kisumi said. “But why won’t you have the time?”

“Yamada-san’s baby can almost come any day at that time and therefore the hospital will be really busy because we’ll be short on staff,” Makoto explained.

Kisumi nodded. “I see,”

The two men sat in silence as Rin and Haruka looked into the room. Rin said goodnight, Haruka just waved once Makoto looked.

“Goodnight,” Makoto smiled.

“Sweet dreams,” Kisumi said in a teasing tone.

“Yeah, yeah,” Rin said before he and Haruka walked off to their bedroom. It was common for the two of them to go to bed around the same time, even after Makoto had removed their curfews when he understood that they were old enough to decide for themselves (at about the age of 16) they had still continued to go to bed in the same time.

Shortly after Rin and Haruka had gone to bed the news went on. There was still no sound on the TV so Makoto didn’t notice until his eyes randomly landed on the TV screen.

‘Dangerous serial killer is…’ Makoto didn’t manage to read further on the screen because Kisumi turned off the TV.

“It’s getting a bit late,” he said. “I should go to bed,”

Makoto nodded. “You’re right,” he said. He could then feel a yawn trying to force its way through, but he fought it back. Kisumi laughed.

“If you want, you can go first,” he said.

Makoto shook his head. “Nah, it’s all good. I need to read up on something before I go to bed anyway,” Makoto answered.

Kisumi sighed. “Makoto, you really should go to bed,” he said. “You’re obviously tired,”

“Don’t worry, it won’t take long,” Makoto said with a soft smile.

“If you say so,” Kisumi said before going to bed as well.

Makoto found the book he needed to read and quickly finished reading the small piece. It was nothing to worry about, barely even a page, and he was done within a matter of minutes. He stayed with the book until he was sure Kisumi was done preparing for bed. Then he closed the book, put it back in place and went down the hallway to Rei’s and Nagisa’s room. He opened the door, careful not to awake Nagisa, and looked into the room where Rei was sitting with his laptop.

“You’ve been on your laptop a lot lately,” Makoto said as he entered the room.

Rei looked up and placed the lap top next to him as he could have his focus fully on Makoto. “I’m working on something important,” he said.

“Something for school?” Makoto asked.

“A research project,” Rei explained further while fixing his glasses.

“What’s it about?” Makoto asked.

“Genetics,” Rei said. “The main question is if the risk of certain diseases can come through your genetics,”  

Makoto nodded. “That sounds interesting,” he said. Then he caught a glimpse of Rei’s screen and kept on staring for a bit. “I don’t imagine that has anything to do with your studies,” he said

Rei sighed and looked at the screen as well. “No,” he answered. There was no point in hiding it, although he had hoped that Makoto wouldn’t have looked at his screen and noticed it.

“Why?” Makoto asked.

“Our economy is gonna be tight as of when Kisumi-san loses his job as model. I feel uneasy. I fear that we could risk facing a similar situation as three years ago,” Rei explained. “I don’t want that, so maybe it would lighten the load for everyone if I did this,”

“Are you sure about that?” Makoto turned to look at Rei. “I will do my very best for that not to happen. Same goes for Kisumi. I’m sure there won’t be any need for such extreme actions,”

Rei didn’t look at Makoto. He continued to look at the screen. “I know,” he said. “But I’d rather be safe than sorry, and besides, I have already planned things out with one of my senpais at the university. He will pay most of our bills if I just find the cheapest place possible. You don’t need to fight to keep me here. I’m 20 years old now. I have to move out eventually,”

Makoto nodded. “I am not trying to stop you, not more than any other parent would when his first child is planning something big like this, I’m just asking you to consider the situation,”

“What is there to consider?” Rei asked.

“How do you think the others will take it?”

Makoto’s words forced Rei to look directly at him as he thought. “Rin and Haruka will get over it, I’m sure. Nagisa…” Rei trailed off, trying to think of what the youngest boy’s reaction would be. “He might be able to get over it as well,” he determined at last, though none of them were really sure if this was true or not. Both of them eyed Nagisa as Rei spoke again. “I should go to bed,” he said.

“I should too,” Makoto said.

Both of them got off the bed and headed out of the room. Makoto was last to leave the room and just before closing the door he eyed the blonde boy, who’s head was hidden under the cover.

“Sleep well, Nagisa,” he whispered before closing the door firmly behind him.

As Rei and Makoto walked around, preparing to go to bed, Nagisa turned on the bed. His eyes were wide open and he looked over to Rei’s empty bed and the laptop. He sat up and took a look at the screen. The cheerfulness that would usually be found in his eyes was nowhere to be found.

With a saddened look he laid back down and covered his head with the cover once again, careful not to reveal that he had been wide awake this whole time.


	11. Chapter 11

Something was off, and not just the weather outside. Haruka could tell as much. It had been like this for a while but it was only now that he had been able to put some words on what he was feeling. This was part reason why he hadn’t told anyone about this. For how long had it been there?

“Nanase-kun,” Their homeroom teacher said, catching Haruka’s attention. She also taught them literature and this was the subject they had now. “Would you please read aloud the homework for today?” she asked. “Just the first page,”

Haruka stood up and picked up the book. He read the text aloud to the class. He didn’t like these kinds of tasks, but he had no good reason to refuse them, therefore he had to do it unless he wanted the school to call Makoto again…

After he finished reading he quickly sat back down and allowed himself to drift back into his trail of thoughts. Meanwhile he heard his teacher asking Rin to read the next part of the text and Rin got started.

Now where was Haruka at before he was interrupted? That was it, he was wondering about when he had started feeling like something wasn’t right.

There had been occasions about a week ago when he had slight hints to this feeling, but he was sure it hadn’t been the first time. Thinking back, he came to wonder how it all started in the first place and came to the conclusion that it had been some kind of unease.

The first time he had felt this unease was the first time when Nagisa had been home late, wasn’t it? He hadn’t been home for dinner and nobody had commented on the fact, but Haruka and Makoto had exchanged looks over the table about it, but they had both also silently reached the same conclusion that Nagisa was probably home at Momotaro’s place. Since then he hadn’t been home for dinner much. Haruka did remember wondering about where he went, but he had stopped giving it much thought after a week’s time.

The unease had been there at that time, but Haruka had a feeling it wasn’t the time he was looking for, not exactly anyway. It had been some time before then, but he couldn’t point out a specific incident that could have caused this, not for the time being.

Also, now that Haruka thought about it, Rei was hiding something too and spent an awful lot of time in his and Nagisa’s room without wanting to be bothered by anyone, not even Nagisa. They had been so close once, but to Haruka, it now seemed like Rei was trying to distance himself from the younger. Was it because of the gap of three years that were between them?

Kisumi had also lost his job. That had been just this Saturday when he had had his last shooting and an interview in the news that same night. Now they were only earning money from Makoto’s job as a doctor, and that payment hadn’t increased much since two years ago.

Aside from the strange things that had happened in the family lately, the weather was also strange. It unnerving on its own, with gray, stormy skies and a promise of a thunderstorm in the air, a thunderstorm they didn’t mention in the news this morning.

* * *

 

“Haru, quit spacing out and let’s go!” Rin said cheerfully as classes ended.

Haruka didn’t realize he had been spacing out through the last class, but without him realizing it, the class was already over and it was time to go swimming with Rin. They were to train for the international tournament in Australia. They would be leaving Japan next week already.

He slowly got out of his seat and packed away his books. He stood up straight and looked at Rin, telling him that he was ready to go. However, Rin was now the one who looked like he was spacing out.

“Oi, Rin,” Haruka waved a hand in front of Rin’s face to regain his attention.

Rin blinked and snapped back to reality. “Sorry,” he said. “I was just wondering about what was occupying your mind,” he said. “You don’t get so distant that often anymore,” he explained further.

“Nothing really,” Haruka said before walking past Rin. “Hurry up,” he said over his shoulder.

Rin grinned and hurried after Haruka out of the classroom.

* * *

 

The sound of thunder was heard as the two teens went outside the school building and Haruka noticed as a look of discomfort appeared on Rin’s face, he himself started feeling sick. Ever since _that day_ he had always felt uncomfortable during thunderstorms. Not because of the thunder or the lightning, but because of the memories of fear they brought along.

Neither Rin nor Haruka had ever really gotten the chance to cope with what had happened then, when they ended up facing a life or death situation. Especially Haruka remembered how the weather had been that day, and Rin remembered it too.

Especially today the weather made Haruka feel uncomfortable, probably because of the feeling of unease that had been haunting him for the past couple of weeks. Yes, it had been just about two weeks since Nagisa started being gone for longer than usual, this had been as far as Haruka could trail his unease back with certainty.

Rin turned to him now, sensing the discomfort he was feeling.

“We should go home instead,” Rin said.

Haruka shook his head. “This is not like you,” he said.

Rin blinked. “It isn’t?” He thought back it seemed. It was true. Normally Rin would say that a little thunderstorm wasn’t going to keep him away from his training and drag Haruka along by saying that a pool was better than a bathtub any day, which was also true in Haruka’s case. “Guess you’re right,” Rin laughed cheerfully.

With that statement determined they both headed off to the nearest station to board the train to the center of Tokyo, where they usually went for their swimming practice.

Above their heads a lightning struck and both Rin’s and Haruka’s shoulders tensed a bit at the sound of the thunder that came after. It only took one look at the other’s face for them to know that they were both trapped in the same memory.

* * *

 

The thunderstorm had nearly passed when Rin and Haruka finished practicing, and the thunder could only be heard in the far distance once they reached their own block and headed inside.

“Hey!” Rin called as he opened the door and entered along with Haruka. Both of them quickly slipped out of their shoes and went to drop their bags in their room.

“Hey Rin, hey Haru,” Makoto said from the kitchen. He was the one in charge of cooking tonight. “Where’s Nagisa?” He asked.

Rin shrugged. “Don’t know, probably with that Momo-kid,” he said.

Haruka couldn’t help but feeling the slight unease increase inside of him. He allowed the thought to cross his mind about if it was really true, but it probably was, or Nagisa surely would have said something. And at any rate, he would be back before it was time for bed for sure. He always came back around 8 as the latest. The time variated a bit though, sometimes he would be back right after dinner, and sometimes he would be back at said eight.

Today was one of the earlier days. In fact, Nagisa came back while they were still eating for a change. He took off his shoes and hurried inside to eat with the rest of them.

“I’m sorry I’m late,” he said and quickly gathered some food on his plate before he got started on eating. The others were already half done.

“It’s about time,” Rei just commented before going back to eating. He didn’t seem to spare Nagisa a look. Haruka noticed, and the feeling returned.

What was up with all this, and why couldn’t he just calm down already? Seriously it was all so annoying.


	12. Midnight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Haruka talk things over with Nagisa

Rin closed the bag he would be bringing to Australia and fell down on his bed. He placed his arms behind his neck and looked up at the ceiling. Haruka was checking some documents about their travelling plans. He eyed Rin as he dropped on the bed, but didn’t comment on it.

A knock was heard on the door to their room and Makoto entered.

“Are the two of you all done packing?” he asked.

“Just finished,” Rin answered.

“Haru?” Makoto asked while turning to the darker of the two.

Haruka nodded at the direction of his long since packed bag. It usually didn’t take him long to pack since he knew exactly what to get and what he would need and what he wouldn’t need, while Rin could take anything from a couple of moments to forever, depending on where he was going.

Makoto smiled. “As expected,” he just said “I’ve got your passports and everything. I have heard it is not easy to get into Australia. They’re very strict about that,”

Both Rin and Haruka nodded at this. They had been told by their coach at practice today. Thankfully they weren’t going alone and surely one of those they were with could step in if things got complicated. Rin was especially worried that Haruka’s lack of speaking and understanding English might cause him trouble. But he would never say it.

Makoto handed Rin and Haruka their passports and smiled. “Remember to go to bed early. You have a long trip ahead,” he said.

“Sure,” Rin said.

“Oh yeah, and I won’t be in the airport to see you off tomorrow,” Makoto added “I’ve been called in for an extra shift, so Kisumi will see you off instead,”

Rin and Haruka both nodded at this too. They had heard Makoto mention it before, so it wasn’t really a surprise to them that he said this now.

“Then… we’ll see you when we come back,” Rin said hesitantly.

“We’ll see each other then,” Makoto said. “Take care, both of you, I’ll go to bed now,”

“Goodnight,” Rin said, and Makoto said goodnight as well and was about to close the door when Haruka lifted his head to look at him.

“Take care, Makoto,” he said.

Makoto send Haruka a warm smile. “I will, thanks Haru, you do the same,”

Haruka nodded, and Makoto closed the door behind them.

* * *

 

Not long after this, Rin and Haruka started preparing to go to bed as well. Rin was first to fall asleep, only moments after they had turned off the lights. Haruka could hear him breathing in the other bed while he was lying awake, unable to catch any sleep it seemed.

The sky was clear tonight, and Haruka could see the moonlight shining through the curtains that were covering the window. He turned in his bed to watch it. His eyes were unable to close whatsoever, so it was better to actually do something rather than nothing.

So Haruka was lying there and watching the moonlight for a while, until sleep seemed to come to him as well, however, it felt like he hadn’t been asleep at all.

He had gone to bed around 10, but now when he looked at the clock it was a little past midnight. Haruka had heard that when you awoke in the middle of the night, there was usually a reason for that. He wondered what it could have been, maybe a thought had struck his mind.

The idea was pushed away as soon as he heard a certain sound coming from somewhere within the apartment. It was the sound of running water. But he didn’t know anyone who would go and take a bath at this late hour.

There was one thing Haruka knew for sure though. Where water was, that was where he went, so he decided to get out of bed for that reason alone, the idea of sleep long forgotten.

The hallway was dark. The bathroom door had been firmly closed, but Haruka cold still see some light coming from the keyhole. This made him able to conclude that someone was actually using the bathroom. Now he just had to determine who it was.

Haruka walked up and opened the door carefully as whoever was in the bathroom wouldn’t see or hear him for now. He peaked into the bathroom, only to see the full bathtub. He could tell that someone was indeed hiding under the surface, but he couldn’t tell who at the moment.

He stepped in and closed the door, letting the person know that he was there. After the first peak, there was no need to be sneaky anymore.

The person apparently heard him and raised his head from the surface to take a look. Haruka was surprised to see that it was Nagisa in the water.

“Haru-chan?” Nagisa asked surprised.

“What are you doing, Nagisa?” Haruka asked in return.

Nagisa sat up and looked up at Haruka while thinking about what to say. “I… I’m not sure,” he finally said.

Haruka shook his head. There was another reason for this that Nagisa wouldn’t tell. He would have to drive it out of him somehow.

“Something hasn’t been right lately,” he said as he knelt down in front of the bathtub.

Nagisa hesitated, but then he nodded, confirming Haruka’s statement.

“What is it?” Haruka said in a determined voice. He hadn’t thought he would need to push the boy to get it out of him, but that seemed to be the case.

“I… I don’t know,” Nagisa said. “Rei-chan is ignoring me, you and Rin are busy with your future and Mako-chan and Kisu-chan are both busy because Kisu-chan is no longer a model,” he said before letting out a sigh.

Haruka started putting two and two together. “You feel left out?” he suggested.

Nagisa looked down in the water. “Maybe,” he said. “I don’t know what to do,”

Haruka thought. “If you’re upset, then why don’t you eat something you like?” he purposely gave Nagisa the same advice as the younger had given to him when he was upset and lonely.

“I wanted to see if the water helped any,” Nagisa said. “Besides, we’re out of strawberries,”

Haruka silently nodded at that. He was well aware. Now that he thought about it, there had been no strawberries in the fridge last time he looked, which was just this afternoon before he started cooking. He knew though, that they had something else.

“We have strawberry tea,” he said.

Nagisa climbed out of the tub by these words and dried himself off. “Will you make it for me, Haru-chan?” he asked.

Haruka nodded. “If you promise to tell me everything,” he said.

Nagisa nodded. “I promise on my heart!” he said while crossing his heart.

Haruka hid away the smile that was threatening to show on his face as he walked to the kitchen to make tea for both himself and Nagisa, regardless of the late hour and the events that would come the following day. He could sleep in the airplane if he wanted to. For now, Nagisa was the more important.

Nagisa came to the kitchen as soon as the tea was ready and he sat down and spoke to Haruka about everything he had been feeling until now. He told about how he had been kicked out from math class because he had had enough of the teacher and now didn’t have math at all. He explained how he had gotten himself a job as Nanami’s babysitter, but nobody seemed to care about where he went off to, and how he felt every time Rei had pushed him away, and how the thing about being pushed away had increased during the last year. He never cried, but Haruka could see the tears forming at the corners of his eyes. He didn’t know what to do about it though. He certainly couldn’t do anything now since he would be leaving to Australia within 12 hours.

“I’ll see what I can do,” Haruka said after Nagisa had finished talking.

“Thank you, Haru-chan,” Nagisa said while tightening his grip around the, now empty, teacup. “Thank you for listening to me,” he said before getting up to hug Haruka one last time. “Goodnight,” he said, and then went to bed.

Haruka stayed behind to clean up the cups before following Nagisa’s example and going to bed as well. The time was around two in the morning.


	13. Departure

Haruka felt like he had just laid down to sleep again when he felt someone shaking him awake the following morning. He opened his eyes and turned his head to stare up at Kisumi’s face.

“Rin said you won’t wake up from the alarm,” Kisumi explained in response to Haruka’s questioning eyes. “It’s time to get up. There is only half an hour until you have to be at the airport,”

Haruka said nothing. He just jumped out of bed and grabbed his clothes, getting dressed just as quickly as he could get undressed. He then headed to the kitchen and was about to get started on cooking when Rin entered along with Kisumi.

“Don’t worry about that, Haru,” Kisumi said. “Makoto left some food for us,”

Haruka opened the fridge and looked in to see four plates of the same breakfast. He looked at Kisumi to get a clue of why there were only four plates, and not five.

“Rei left at the same time as Makoto. I think he needed to be somewhere today,” Kisumi answered. “I’m not going to wake Nagisa up for this, I figure he would much rather sleep in,”

Rin was about to protest, but stopped himself when Haruka nodded in agreement. Seeing as he and Nagisa had both been up late last night, it was probably for the better if he was left to just sleep in. He also wanted to spare the other some tears, knowing that he would start crying once Rin and Haruka had to leave.

So Kisumi, Rin and Haruka quickly swallowed their breakfast and then left their plates in the sink. Kisumi wrote a quick note to Nagisa while Rin and Haruka got their bags and pulled on their shoes. Then all three of them headed off to the airport.

Kisumi had promised to give Rin and Haruka a ride, seeing as it would take forever by train. What he hadn’t expected was that there were a lot of people who needed to go somewhere during Golden Week, and therefore the streets were practically packed with cars. They were stuck in traffic most of the way to the airport.

Once they finally reached the airport, Kisumi parked just outside the building and only took the time to escort Rin and Haruka until they met their coach.

“Take care of yourselves and do your best,” Kisumi said with a bright smile, just before parting ways with the other two.

“You too,” Rin answered.

“Tell Nagisa we said goodbye,” Haruka continued.

“Yeah, tell all of them goodbye for us,” Rin said while grinning and waving.

“Will do,” Kisumi smiled. “Have a safe trip while you’re at it, and take some pictures if you get the chance,”

“We will,” Rin promised while mentally complimenting himself for remembering the camera.

Kisumi stood and waved while Rin and Haruka turned and followed their coach through the check-in line for the international flight.

After finishing checking in and the security check, Rin and Haruka were left to themselves for a bit on a bench, until it was time for them to board. Their coach had gone somewhere else.

“Why did you specifically mentioned Nagisa?” Rin questioned while sending a questioning look at Haruka though the corner of his eye.

Haruka send Rin an irritated glare. “Don’t pretend you didn’t sense it too,” he said. “I spoke to Nagisa last night,” he said.

Rin nodded and turned to look at the people passing by. “So, what’s with him? Did he want to talk, or did he just make up a story?”

“He talked,” Haruka said. “But I think Rei should be the first to know of this,”

Rin couldn’t help the smile that appeared on his face. “Now I’m really getting curious. Won’t you say it, Haru?” he asked.

Haruka shook his head.

Rin sighed. “You’re so stubborn,” he mumbled.

Haruka didn’t comment on that. Rin had said that a lot, and anyone who spoke to him long enough, could tell that Rin was right on the statement. There was no point in denying it, and no point in commenting on it either.

Shortly after, their coach returned and their time to board was announced.

* * *

 

In the airplane, while watching as they left the ground, Haruka started getting another feeling. It was a bit similar to the unease he had felt lately, but it was mixed in with something else. It could be discomfort, but Haruka wasn’t sure on that.

“Haru?” Rin asked from the seat next to him. Haruka turned his head to face the other. “You feel it too?” Rin asked.

Haruka nodded, somehow knowing that Rin also sensed the discomfort that was running through both their bodies at this very moment, as they were leaving Japan.

“What do you think it means?” Rin asked.

Haruka wished he would stop asking questions already. “I don’t know,” he said.

Rin sighed, sensing that Haruka really was getting tired of him, and turned on some music to keep himself from getting bored to death during the flight.

Haruka leaned against the window, preparing himself to fall asleep. The hours he had spent awake with Nagisa last night, were finally coming back to him now.

It wasn’t true what he had told Rin. He had a clue of what the feeling of unease could mean. The thought had struck him at around the same time as the feeling had, and that was even more uncomfortable than the feeling itself. He hadn’t wanted to tell Rin. That was why he answered as he did. If he told Rin, he would just get unnecessarily worried. Even he was feeling it as the thought continued to circle around in his head, always coming back no matter how many times he tried to throw it away, almost like a boomerang.

 _Nothing will be the same once we return_.

With those words in mind, Haruka looked down to the ground one last time, before Japan disappeared behind the clouds.


	14. Alone

The sun was shining through the window when Nagisa awoke that morning. He looked to the bed next to him, but it was empty. Rei had already made the bed and went somewhere. Nagisa wondered where that could be. It was Golden Week. Rei shouldn’t be at school now.

He shrugged it off though and got out of bed. He went to the kitchen to see if there was breakfast, but nobody had prepared anything for him. He then went to the bedrooms to check and see if anyone was there, but no. All beds were empty. It was strange. He thought he noticed Rin and Haruka’s bags in the hallway, but it could just have been his imagination.

Back in the kitchen, there was still no trace of anyone or anything, and Nagisa started feeling really worried. What had happened to everyone? Where were they? Did they just leave him all alone?

“Rei-chan?” Nagisa called out the first name that came to mind, the name of the person he wanted to see the most. “Rei-chan, where are you?” he called.

Of course nobody answered. He was all alone. There was nobody who could answer him. This thought upset Nagisa more than he thought it would.

“Come on, it’s not funny!” he called through the deserted place. “Where are you?” he stopped. “Don’t leave me all alone!” he yelled out in desperation.

Nobody answered. Nagisa’s words started echoing through the room, in his head. It started ringing in his ears, an annoying tone that won’t stop. ‘Don’t leave me all alone!’ ‘Leave me all alone’ ‘Alone’ ‘Alone…”

* * *

 

Nagisa sat up, cold sweat running from every part of his body. He looked down and realized he was still in bed. It had all just been a nightmare, a really terrifying nightmare, but a nightmare. None of what had happened in there was real… Or so he thought.

Nagisa took one look around the room to ensure himself that everything was okay and stopped once his gaze landed on Rei’s empty bed. Rei had already made his bed and left somewhere. But it was the middle of Golden Week. He shouldn’t have school or anything like that.

While making a panicked sound, Nagisa stood up and ran to Makoto’s room, only to find that also his bed was empty. He closed the door and ran to Kisumi’s room, also his bed was empty. Then he ran to Rin and Haruka’s room. Their beds were also both empty and their bags were gone. Had they been there in the dream?

Nagisa then walked to the kitchen to see if they had left a note or something. He was lucky. On the dining table, a white piece of paper was lying. It had been folded once and when Nagisa read the kanji on it, he saw his own name.

He slowly picked up the note and unfolded the paper.

 

_Good morning Nagisa_

_I have taken Rin and Haru to the airport to see them off. Makoto is at work and Rei has gone somewhere else. I don’t know where that is though. There is breakfast for you in the fridge, you can heat it up or leave it cold, whichever you prefer. I’ll be back home to keep you company soon, hopefully._

_Take care ‘til then._

_Kisumi_

 

Nagisa felt relief washing over him. He hadn’t been left all alone. Kisumi would be back soon. He carefully folded the note and placed it back on the table before heading to the fridge and grabbing the last plate left in there. He also noticed three other plates and three sets of chopsticks by the sink. Rin, Haruka and Kisumi had probably been in a hurry.

Nagisa sat down and ate on his own and washed up both his and the others’ dishes once he was finished. He then started thinking of stuff he could do today. He came up with nothing though.

He went back to his room to get dressed while still trying to come up with something to do. There were no homework, no chore, not that he knew of anyway, and Rei had disappeared to somewhere unknown.

While Nagisa was getting dressed, he heard the sound of his phone vibrating. He finished pulling on his shirt and then opened to check the message.

It was from Gou.

 

_Hey, Nagisa-kun_

_Could we hang out today?_

_Hana-chan is in Hokkaido with her family and Momotaro-kun is not home either, so I was wondering if the two of us could spend some time together during Golden Week._

_Whether it’s yes or no, mom and I need help at the shop today, so you should come assist us, please come ASAP_

_See ya!_

_Gou_

 

Nagisa nodded at the message. There was no reason for him not to go to the shop and help out Gou. Besides, she was right, it was just the two of them. If he didn’t want to be alone, she was his best option right now, and he had a feeling this would prove to be useful in the end.

Therefore Nagisa quickly texted Gou back that he wanted to help out and went to grab a paper and write a quick note to Kisumi.

 

_Kisu-chan_

_I have gone out to help Gou-chan and Matsuoka-san at their shop._

_Nagisa_

 

He wrote Kisumi’s name on the note and threw out the note Kisumi had written for him, as it won’t get confusing. Then he quickly pulled on his shoes, grabbed his phone and left the house to spend some time with Gou.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would like to apologize for not updating yesterday. I went to a party almost right after school and didn't have the time for that reason. I hope it's okay.   
> I also want to thank all those who has read this story so far. Thanks for the kudos too, I appreciate them a lot. Because I'm in a caring corner today, I'm sending a hug to everyone who read this note.   
> Until next time.
> 
> Jackie


	15. Curiosity

It wasn’t long within Golden Week. Nagisa and Gou were spending time at Nagisa’s place. The other day, Nagisa had found a photo album from the summer they spend in Okinawa. It had been a trip for the entire family, which meant Ren, Ran and Makoto’s parents had been there too. It had been a year after Rin and Haruka joined the family, and therefore Gou found it all very interesting. She wanted to see some more pictures of Rin and Haruka from when they were younger.

This was why Gou was here now. She and Nagisa were sitting on the floor in the living room with a bowl of strawberries between them. Gou had brought them over when she got there.

Nobody else was home except Rei, and he was doing something else. Nagisa wondered what it was. Rei had been really busy lately. He would like to know what took up so much of the other’s time.

Gou flipped a page in the photo album and smiled as she saw the pictures on the page. There were six in total. She studied them carefully.

“Nagisa-kun, what is all this?” she asked, pointing to the pictures.

Nagisa looked at the pictures. “The first one is of me and Rei-chan in the water,” he said. “The next one is of Rin-chan sleeping on the sand. The next is of Haru-chan who was caught enjoying ice cream, the one on the next page is of me and Haru-chan after burying Rin-chan who was still asleep, and look at the last one!” Nagisa exclaimed.

Gou did as told and burst out laughing. “Onii-chan’s looking pretty angry,” she said.

The picture showed Rin who was glaring at the camera, or rather, at the photographer. A small text, written in pencil below, explained that Nagisa had taken that picture.

Nagisa laughed for a few seconds, but then shut up because he thought he heard footsteps in the hallway. He got up from the floor and looked out, to see Rei in the middle of putting on his shoes.

“Where are you going, Rei-chan?” Nagisa asked.

Rei looked up, caught off guard. “I’m going to see one of my senpais about something,” he said.

“Where and about what?” Nagisa asked.

“At that café just around the corner,” Rei answered, completely avoiding the other question asked to him. He finished putting on his shoes. “I’ll be off,” he said.

“Be safe, Rei-chan,” Nagisa said while waving. Rei didn’t return either of those. He just closed the door firmly behind him.

“I bet Rei-san is up to something,” Gou said with a smirk on her face.

“What do you mean?” Nagisa asked curiously. He knew when Gou spoke in a specific tone, she was up to something, and whatever that something was, it had never been something Nagisa would want to miss out on. Not on his life.

“I bet he is going on a date,” Gou said.

Nagisa smiled. “Let’s go see, I wanna know who Rei-chan is dating,” he said before slipping into his shoes. “Pack the strawberries Gou-chan, we might need them,”

Gou went and packed the strawberries and then also pulled on her shoes before both teens left the apartment. Nagisa locked the door behind them, and then they headed down to the café around the corner. It was simple luck that Nagisa knew exactly which one Rei was talking about.

* * *

 

“You’re early, Ryugazaki-kun,” Sera Tadanori said. He was heading towards the small table, which Rei was sitting at, drinking a cup of tea.

“I consider it better to be early than to be late, Sera-senpai,” Rei answered.

“I think I’ll go order something. I’ll be there in a minute,” Tadanori said before heading inside the small café to order something. Rei was left to himself for a while longer.

He took out a book and started reading. He might as well, he figured. It was another theory book about what kind of home you would need in different situations. Rei was specifically looking for a place where he could think a lot and was getting ideas from the book.

Along with information about design of one’s home, the book also provided information about what type of family you would need, but Rei hadn’t reached that chapter yet. It was at the very end of the book, and he was actually considering not bothering to read it at all.

“I’m sorry,” Tadanori apologized once he returned to the table. He placed a cup of tea in front of himself as well and then eyed Rei’s book. “That’s some interesting book you’re reading,” he said.

Rei only nodded to this.

“Is it going well, with finding a place to live?” Tadanori asked out of kindness.

Rei looked up, feeling that this required a more accurate answer. “I haven’t found anything that fits the books description so far,” he said.

“Well,” Tadanori took a sip of the tea. “I do hope you find something,” he said. “Just be sure to keep it cheap,” he continued.

Rei nodded. “I will,” he said.

The two were silent for a little while before Sera spoke again. “Have you found an answer to my question from this Friday?” he asked.

“I’m still considering,” Rei said. “I have never been to Osaka before and it could be exciting to become your partner for your project, but I will be missing out on my own studies and I would be wasting a lot of money on the trip,” he explained.

“I see,” Tadanori answered. “They are good reasons, but I really want you as a partner because you are smart and good at what you’re doing and we think the same way,” he smiled at Rei as he said this.

“But what do I get out of this?” Rei asked.

Tadanori nodded to himself at this question. “It might not be so good if I say this out loud,” he said.

Rei nodded. “Then whisper to me, I’d like to know, Sera-senpai,”

Tadanori leaned across the table and whispered the information into Rei’s ear. As he did so, Rei’s facial expression dramatically changed from plain, to surprise.

* * *

 

Behind a set of bushes, Nagisa was listening closely to everything the two university students were saying, while Gou was sitting next to him, eating away at the strawberries. Nagisa hadn’t had a single one yet. Right now he was too busy attempting to hear what Rei’s senpai was whispering to him to even think of strawberries. However, he had no succeed when it came to picking up on their conversation.

He watched as Rei’s senpai moved away and sat back on his chair. Rei was staring into space with a thoughtful look.

“Put like that, I can see many good reasons to go,” Rei said. “But what about school? If I’m absent for too long then won’t I get in trouble?” he asked.

Rei’s senpai shook his head. “No,” he said. “It will be registered as legal because you are assisting me. Some of the professors even consider it more useful to participate in projects like these than to participate in the every-day classes,”

Rei nodded. “I see,” he said. “Well, put like that, I can see why I should go,” he said. “When are we leaving?”

“Monday at 7 in the morning, right after Golden Week is over,” Rei’s senpai said. “We will meet up at the central station,” he said.

Gou looked to Nagisa. She was surprised to see her friend sniffing and trying to wipe his eyes clean from tears with his wrist. His shoulder was shaking and his lips vibrating, but not a single sound escaped them.

“We should go back,” Gou said softly and started leading Nagisa away from their spying position.


	16. Downfall

It was Sunday night, a little past 8. Nagisa and Nanami were watching the final scene of an old animated movie. It seemed to be one of Nanami’s favorite movies because they had watched it a lot together.

Nagisa received a text message on his phone and read it quickly.

“Nana-chan?” he asked.

“Hmm?” Nanami looked up to Nagisa with questioning eyes. She was a bit tired. Her eyelids were heavy above her brown eyes.

“Your mother says she will be late and I have to send you to bed. When do you have to go?” Nagisa asked.

“Eh… at 12?” Nanami tried.

Nagisa nearly laughed and shook his head. “I didn’t even get to stay up that long when I was your age,” he said.

“How long did you get to stay up?” Nanami asked.

Nagisa thought. “Maybe until 8:30, sometimes 9 if I was lucky,”

“9 is fine,” Nanami said then.

Nagisa nodded. “Then 9 it is,” Originally Miyano-san had written 8:30, but Nagisa wanted to let Nanami decide what she wanted before making a decision of his own. It wasn’t what any babysitter would do, but why would he care about that? He wasn’t like the average babysitter anyway. Nobody in his family even knew he was a babysitter, except Haruka.

Nagisa found a game and he and Nanami played until it was time for her to prepare for bed. Nagisa helped her with whatever she needed. He was a bit surprised when she asked him to help her brush her teeth and do her hair for the night.

“Oka-san says I have to have someone else brush my teeth until I’m 12 to ensure that it is done properly,” Nanami explained when Nagisa confronted her about it.

After the little girl was in bed and Nagisa had told her a bedtime story, his favorite one about the penguins, he went to sit in the living room. He had been instructed to wait until Miyano-san came home from work, but he didn’t know when that was at all.

Miyano-san returned about an hour and a half after Nanami had been sent to bed. She was even more tired than Nagisa ever remembered seeing Makoto be. She thanked him for working so late and paid him extra for the trouble, and then sent him off, reminding him that he needed his rest too.

* * *

 

Nagisa opened the door to the apartment as silently as possible and stepped inside. He suppressed a yawn while closing the door behind him. Then he bent down to take off his shoes.

“Where have you been?” Rei asked as he stepped into the hallway. Apparently he had actually heard Nagisa coming.

“I’ve been out to look at the full moon,” Nagisa lied.

“You’re lying,” Rei determined without blinking.

“No I’m not!” Nagisa argued.

“Yes you are,” Rei said. “It was full moon last week,”

Nagisa flashed an awkward smile. “I must have mixed up the dates then?” he tried.

Rei sighed. “Tell me the truth,” he demanded.

Nagisa hesitated. He didn’t want to tell the truth. He didn’t know why, but a gut feeling told him that nothing good would come out of him doing so.

“I…” he stopped himself.

“I’m waiting,” Rei crossed his arms, giving off an impatient impression.

Nagisa took in a deep breath. “I’m babysitting a girl whose mother isn’t home very much,” he said. “That’s what I was also doing tonight,” he said.

Rei rolled his eyes. “I highly doubt anyone would leave their child in your care,” he said.

Nagisa glared at Rei for that comment. “What’s that supposed to mean, Rei-chan?” he asked.

“Are you even responsible enough to take care of yourself?” he asked.

Nagisa stopped. Was he?

“That’s what I thought,” Rei said, clearly interpreting the silence as a no. “Look, before you start taking are of others, it is better that you worry about taking care of yourself,” he said. “Being home this late is not part of taking care of yourself,”

Nagisa frowned at this. “Miyano-san had to work late!” he said.

“That’s no excuse,” Rei said. “You have school tomorrow just like anyone else,”

“What about you, Rei-chan?” Nagisa asked.

Rei looked confused. “What about me, Nagisa?” he asked back.

“Do you have school tomorrow?” Nagisa asked.

Rei stared at Nagisa. “I am going to Osaka tomorrow,” he said.

Nagisa pushed past Rei to get to his room. He didn’t want to continue this discussion anymore. “I know that, that’s why I asked,” he said.

Rei reached out and stopped Nagisa from leaving. “How do you know of that?” he asked.

Nagisa turned to face Rei, a harsh expression was on his face. Rei was surprised. He had never seen Nagisa like this before. “Gou-chan and I overheard your conversation with your senpai the other day,” he said.

Rei was stunned, then an angry look appeared on his face. “Nagisa, it is not right to go and listen to other people’s conversations like that. You should at least consider that people might talk about things they don’t want you to hear,”

“Such as leaving your family?” Nagisa asked. “Don’t tell me what to do, Rei-chan!” he yelled. Tears welled up in his eyes and he ran down the hallway to let himself into Rin’s and Haruka’s empty room and lock the door behind him before anyone could follow him.

Makoto stepped out of the living room. “What was that all about, Rei?” he asked the only one left in the hallway.

“Nothing,” Rei answered. “I’ll go to bed. I have to leave early tomorrow, and I have already been up way longer than I should,” he said. “Goodnight, Makoto,”

“Goodnight?” Makoto said it a bit like a question, being surprised that Rei didn’t want to answer him. Maybe he could get an answer out of Nagisa tomorrow, but it was far from certain that he could.

* * *

 

The following morning, while the sun had barely risen on the sky, Rei checked his bags to see if he had everything he would need for the trip to Osaka. He looked at the door to Rin and Haruka’s room. Nagisa’s bed was still empty, so Rei could only assume he hadn’t left the other room since last night.

While thinking of the younger boy, Rei felt a slight hint of irritation rise in his heart. He didn’t even know what to make of Nagisa’s actions last night. He had been so childish and irresponsible, both to himself and to others.

Rei shrugged. Maybe Nagisa was just experiencing a rebellion that came with being a young teen. He had read that in his studies of hormones. But he wondered if Nagisa wasn’t too old for things like this. It should have been over a while ago.

“Silly me,” Rei said in an attempt to dismiss it all as nothing. Then he grabbed his bag and pulled on his shoes and prepare to head out the house, but a door opened before he could manage to open the front door.

“Rei,” It was Makoto.

“I’m going to Osaka now,” Rei said.

“I know,” Makoto smiled. “I just wanted to say goodbye,” he said. “Be safe on your trip,” he said kindly as he walked up to Rei. “Make sure we can get in touch with you at all times,”

Rei nodded. “I will, don’t worry about that,” he said. “You take care as well, Makoto,” he said.

Makoto nodded.

They were silent for a bit. Rei was aware that the time was ticking, but in the same time, he had a feeling Makoto wasn’t done speaking to him yet. There was something more he needed to get off his chest before Rei could leave.

“You are going to sort things out with Nagisa once you come back, right?” Makoto asked.

Rei didn’t know what to answer to that question, but he wouldn’t be allowed to leave before he gave an answer.

“I will try,” he said

Makoto accepted the answer and they said goodbye one more time before Rei left the house and Makoto closed the door behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a very hard time deciding what the title of this chapter should be. I couldn't seem to come up with anything suitable that I was satisfied with. But thankfully I came up with something just before publishing this, so now I'm satisfied.   
> Thanks for reading. It means a lot.
> 
> Jackie


	17. Tree

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is a flashback to when Nagisa is 5 and Rei is 9. it is set in springtime, a little over half a year after Makoto adopted them.

Since 5 years old Nagisa had started school this spring he had thought school was fun, just like Rei had told him it would be. Although the teachers continuously reminded them that this was only kindergarten and that school would be much tougher once it actually got started, Nagisa couldn’t help his believes.

Right now, Nagisa was sitting on a chair in the classroom, swinging his legs back and forth, because they couldn’t reach the floor, while listening to their teacher talking about the hiragana and katakana. Nagisa knew of both. He had been taught in the orphanage and Makoto had also explained some more of it to him. But there were some in the class who hadn’t learned them yet, and therefore their teacher had to start from the beginning.

The school day was nearly done when their teacher, Sakamoto-sensei changed the subject she was talking about to something entirely different.

“For tomorrow, I have some homework for you. It will be your very first homework,” she said with a bright smile, like she had just given them some very good news. Nagisa noticed how the entire class smiled. Nagisa smiled as well. “Due to tomorrow you will have to make a family tree of your own family, that means your brothers, sisters, parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins, as many as you can think up. Just draw a picture of them and write their names and their relation to you, like this,”

Sakamoto-sensei pulled up a paper and showed her own family. “That’s me,” she pointed to the bottom of the paper. “Next to me is my sister, here are my parents, and that’s my mother’s sister and her husband and son, and there are my grandparents,” she pointed them out as she mentioned them. “Tomorrow you will present your families to the entire class,”

Suddenly homework weren’t as much fun as Nagisa had thought they would be.

* * *

 

The following day, when they had Sakamoto-sensei again, the entire class was prepared to present their families for the others. Nagisa was sitting by a table with three of his classmates, Akito, Ayato and Yukio.

“I managed to make a really great one!” Yukio said while showing his to the other three boys around the table. “There’s my older brother and my older sister is there, and there’s my mother and her brothers and my father and his brother and my cousins, and here are my grandparents,” he pointed them out as he spoke. “I get best along with my cousin Shun on my father’s side,” he said and pointed said cousin out.

“Mine’s better,” Akito said and showed his. “Look at it,”

“I bet you mine’s better,” Ayato said and showed his as well.

Nagisa and Yukio took a look at both family trees and a realization hit Nagisa after only a few moments. “Aki-chan, Aya-chan, aren’t they mirrored or something? They look almost the same,” Nagisa asked.

Akito and Ayato nodded and Ayato explained. “We are twins, so we have the same family,” he said.

“That’s so cool!” Yukio said. “I wish I had a brother my age!”

Both Ayato and Akito shook their heads. “No,” Akito said. “You won’t want that, we have to share everything! That’s so annoying!”

Nagisa dragged himself completely out of the conversation. All he wished right now was that he had a family. Of course he had Makoto and Rei, but they weren’t his real family. He wasn’t stupid. He knew he had been adopted. He still remembered the time at the orphanage when it was only him and Rei. It was less than half a year ago since they were adopted.

“Alright class!” Sakamoto-sensei said. “Let’s get started on the presentations. We take it in alphabetic order so be sure you know when it’s your turn,”

When she said alphabetic order, she meant by the surnames, which meant Nagisa was in the latter half of the class. He therefore sat and waited and watched as his classmates went up to the front one by one and presented their families. Akito and Ayato did it together because they were twins.

Nishii Satsuki had just finished presenting her family and had headed back to her chair and the rest of the class was now waiting for the next to come up. But nobody came.

“Who is next?” Sakamoto-sensei asked.

Nobody answered and she had to look at the list of students to see who it was. She looked up at Nagisa as she finished. “Hazuki-kun, would you please present your family to us?” she asked.

Nagisa walked up in front of his class. His hands were empty.

“Where is your family tree?” Sakamoto asked as she noticed this.

“I didn’t make one,” Nagisa answered honestly.

Sakamoto sighed. “Sit back down, Hazuki-kun,” she said. “You will stay behind after class and we will work on it together,” she said.

Nagisa did as he was told. The rest of the class stared at him all the way.

* * *

 

Makoto was home from work. He had just entered and taken off his shoes when the phone started ringing in the living room. Rei was already home and he could hear the oldest of his boys go to answer the phone for him. Makoto silently thanked Rei for that. Sometimes he thought it was a huge relief to have both Rei and Nagisa in the house, even if they were still young they could do little things that helped him to not stress as much.

“Makoto-san!” Rei called from the living room. “Makoto-san, it’s from the school, they want to speak to you,” he said.

Makoto wondered what they wanted to speak to him about as he headed to the living room and accepted the phone, which Rei was handing to him. “Thank you Rei,” he said before putting the phone to his ear. “Hello, Tachibana Makoto speaking,” he said.

“Hello, Tachibana-san,” it was a female speaking. “I’m Sakamoto Mayu, Hazuki-kun’s teacher,” she said.

Makoto nodded. “What is this about? Has Nagisa done something?” he asked.

“Sort of,” Sakamoto said. “He has refused to make a family tree, the task is perfectly clear, I kept him here after school as we could work on it but he kept refusing, just now… Just now he started crying and I don’t know why,” she explained.

“I see,” Makoto said. “I’ll come to the school right away,”

* * *

 

Ten minutes later, Makoto and Rei were at the school and on their way down the hallway to Nagisa’s classroom. Makoto opened the door and walked inside. By a table in the back the still sobbing Nagisa was found along with his confused and worried teacher.

“Nagisa,” Makoto said and hurried over to the blonde boy. Rei kept on standing by the door.

“M-Mako-chan,” Nagisa sobbed. He looked up and saw Makoto, and then his gaze landed on Rei and Makoto was long forgotten. “Rei-chan!” he exclaimed and ran to Rei. He jumped into the older boy’s arms and sobbed into his chest, fresh tears started running down his cheeks.

“There, there, Nagisa,” Rei said in an attempt to comfort the younger while patting his head softly.

“Rei, Nagisa,” Makoto said. “Do you two mind going outside?” he asked. He figured it would be easier if explanation and comforting were done separately.

Rei nodded and walked outside the room with a lot of difficulty because Nagisa was clinging to him like a koala-baby to its mother. He closed the door behind them.

“I’m sorry about all this, Sakamoto-sensei,” Makoto said.

“I should be the one apologizing, although I don’t even know what I’ve done wrong,” Sakamoto answered.

Makoto smiled. “You couldn’t have known. Nagisa doesn’t have a biological family. Sure I am his father, but I have just adopted him and Rei. The two of them aren’t even related by blood. Therefore a family tree is a difficult task for him to do,” Makoto said.

Sakamoto nodded. “I see,” she said. “I feel really bad now… I should have given the class another task,” she mumbled while looking down at her hands.

Makoto shook his head. “You didn’t know, there is nothing to feel bad about. If you want, I can make him do it for an imaginary family,” he said.

Sakamoto shook her head. “It’s fine,” she said. “He doesn’t have to do it. The intention of this was for the kids to learn more about hiragana, and he already knows everything and is very good at it. There’s no need,” she smiled.

Makoto nodded. “I might just have him do something anyway. He has to learn that he can’t skip stuff at school just because he dislikes it,”

They spoke for a short while longer before Makoto gathered Nagisa’s things and said goodbye to Sakamoto. He then took both his boys home. Nagisa ended up making a family tree for a penguin family and proved his lack of artistic skills. He showed it to Sakamoto, but never made a presentation for his class. Eventually the entire incident was forgotten, but never did the staff forget that Nagisa was an orphan again. Especially not Sakamoto-sensei.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This may not seem the most important, but it will become important to the plot of the story (which you will see in the next chapter)  
> Random info: If you have read some of the works published by MatakiKazumi on Fanfiction.net you might get the reference I made with the use of Ayato and Akira in this chapter. It is a direct reference to the OC main characters Aya and Aki Titania, from the Fairy Tail fanfic called The Titania Twins.   
> That's enough out of me. See you next time
> 
> Jackie


	18. Unwelcome

History was usually one of Nagisa’s best subjects. It didn’t matter to him if it was Japanese history or world history. He was good at both and found it interesting. It didn’t matter if they were talking about the Edo period in Japan or World War II from a world perspective.

Since they had started school, after spring break, they had been working with famous Japanese people from ancient times. They were nearly done with this topic and Nagisa wondered what they would get started on next when their teacher entered.

After they had done the usual standing, paying attention, bowing and sit down again, the teacher started speaking.

“From spring break to Golden Week I have been talking a lot during our classes. I have decided to change that. I have prepared a task, that will hopefully be interesting for you,”

Nagisa leaned forward, paying even closer attention to what the teacher was saying. Maybe this could involve some kind of treasure hunt or something.

“What I want you to do is go dig in your own bloodlines. Find out if you are related to any of those notable people we have been talking about before Golden Week. Present them to the class by next week if you don’t mind. Also try and see if you are related to anyone of your classmates if possible. Since this might be difficult I would like you to work in pairs, two and two,” The teacher said. “Do you have any questions?” he asked.

Nagisa said nothing. He didn’t raise his hand before standing up. He could feel the slight frustration inside, causing tears to burn in his eyes. He recalled the day at elementary school when he had been asked to do something similar to this. He remembered how envious he had got of the others and how he had cried because he didn’t know his biological family at all.

“Hazuki-kun?” Their teacher asked.

“I’m not doing it,” Nagisa said quietly.

“Excuse me Hazuki-kun, but I’m not sure I heard what you said,” The teacher said. Nagisa believed him. It really did sound like he hadn’t heard, but the fact just annoyed him and made him more frustrated.

“I can’t do it!” he yelled at the top of his lungs. “I am NOT gonna do it because I can’t do it!” he continued to yell. He could now feel as the tears started forming at the corners of his eyes and he stormed out of the classroom while hiding the tears. When you were 16 years old you didn’t cry, even if your name was Hazuki Nagisa and you had learned it was okay to show emotion from when you were little.

He sat in the hallway, arms wrapped around his knees as he cried into his knees without making a single noise. He wouldn’t want to disturb anyone else. He just wanted to be alone for long enough to pull himself together and then pretend nothing happened. He wasn’t left in peace though.

“Nagisa?” Gou came into the hallway and sat down next to him. She didn’t do anything to comfort him, but her presence was enough.

“Gou-chan…” Nagisa looked up at her with watery eyes.

Gou met his eyes with a soft look. “We have to work together for this task,” she said. “I figured I should start by asking why you were acting out just now,”

Nagisa nodded. “It… It’s because I don’t have a biological family,” he said. “I have never known them at all,”

“I didn’t think that bothered you at all,” Gou said, slightly surprised by the answer.

“It doesn’t,” Nagisa placed his chin on his knees now. “It is only when we have to do stuff like this. We had to make a family tree in kindergarten and I couldn’t do that either. I ended up getting jealous at my classmates for having a family,” he said.

Gou nodded and said nothing for a while. She got a thoughtful look on her face. “Well,” she said after a while. “Actually I don’t really want to dig into my family, at least not on my father’s side. So I was thinking that maybe we could try to dig up your family and find out where you come from as you can get to know your biological family?” she suggested while acting like it wasn’t a big deal at all.

Nagisa’s face lit up like sunshine. His eyes started sparkling. “You don’t mind, Gou-chan?” he asked.

Gou shook her head. “I don’t. I will dig up stuff about my mother and then we will go find your family. Got anywhere we can start?” she asked.

“The orphanage where Mako-chan picked up me and Rei-chan,” Nagisa said.

Gou was stunned. She hadn’t spoken of a location, she had actually meant a place in books or history, but it did make sense to her. Nagisa won’t know anything else and he was known for being good at thinking outside the box (rather, he didn’t know how to think inside the box).

“Fine,” Gou said. “Then we go to Iwatobi, I’d also like to see where Rin-nii and Haruka-nii grew up. We gather our savings and pack up. Stay prepared. We will leave as soon as I’m done,” she said.

“Okay!” Nagisa exclaimed. He had suddenly been cheered up completely by Gou and her encouragement. She was good at stuff like that it seemed. Nagisa knew she had also played a big role when it came to bringing Rin’s and Haruka’s friendship back.

* * *

 

It was Monday and Miyano was working late again tonight. Nagisa was therefore staying at Nanami’s place again to take care of her. He really did hope it won’t be as late today as it was yesterday.

“Nagisa-san, you look down,” Nanami said as they ate the pizza Miyano had ordered for them.

Nagisa blinked and put on a cheerful smile as he realized she was right. “I’m fine,” he said. “I’m just thinking about something that happened at school today,” he said.

“Is someone bullying you?” Nanami asked with a sympathetic look.

Nagisa smiled and shook his head. “I’ve never been bullied,” he confessed. “Haru-chan and Rin-chan were bullied because their names were girly but Rei-chan and I have only been teased about it,” he said.

“Nanase-sama was bullied?” Nanami asked.

Nagisa nodded. “If your mother isn’t coming home for your bedtime I will tell you a story about Haru-chan getting bullied by some jerks from his class,”

Nanami smiled. “I’d love that!” she said happily.

Nagisa let out a heavy breath of relief. He was glad he had managed to change the subject to something more comfortable. He had experienced it with Rei. The older usually managed to control the conversation and where it was going. He could even lead it to some uncomfortable subject if he wanted because he had the more experience in life. Nagisa had had this done to him many times, but he had never tried doing it himself. It felt good.

* * *

 

Miyano-san was late, and so at night, Nagisa told Nanami the story of Haruka being bullied, from his own perspective.

“Haru-chan and Rin-chan had transferred to the same school as me and Rei-chan after being adopted,” he started. “At first things were fine, but at some point, after a couple of years, Haru-chan started letting little signs drop that something was off. I once saw Haru-chan trying to reach for a school book that had been placed on a locker in the classroom. He had to use a chair to get it down though. He never knew I was there and saw it. One day, Rin-chan and Haru-chan came home together and Haru-chan was soaking wet. I asked Rin-chan why and Rin-chan said that Haru-chan had been bullied because of his name and other stuff and that it would stop then. I don’t know how Rin-chan did it, but it seemed like the bullying did stop,” Nagisa smiled.

Nanami smiled. “Nanase-sama didn’t say anything?” she asked.

Nagisa shook his head. “That’s not like Haru-chan,” he said.

Nanami smiled wider. “When I grow up, I wanna be just as strong as Nanase-sama,” she said.

Nagisa smiled at her. “Just smile while doing it!” he said.

Nanami nodded and Nagisa said goodnight before closing the door to the bedroom.

Miyano-san came home shortly after and Nagisa said goodbye and headed back to his own house. Somehow he had managed to forget everything about the unwelcome task in history.


	19. Chapter 19

Nagisa was watching Nanami again. He had been doing it almost on a daily basis lately. He started feeling more and more sorry for the girl. She hardly ever saw her parents, in fact Nagisa still had yet to meet her father in person. He had only seen the man on a picture in the living room which appeared to have been taken years ago.

“Is something bothering you, Nagisa-san?” Nanami asked again on Tuesday night.

“No,” Nagisa answered. “I’m fine, I’m just thinking,” he said.

“Thinking about what?” Nanami asked.

“How Haru-chan made a strawberry cake,” Nagisa said in hopes that the girl would take the bait.

“No you’re not,” Nanami determined. “Did you hear what I say just now?” She sure was attentive. She hadn’t taken the bait this time.

“Eh…” Nagisa trailed off. He was caught in the act of lying, and that by a girl who was way younger than him. He didn’t even know how to answer other than be honest. He decided not to answer.

“I asked when mom would be back,” she said.

Nagisa shook his head. “I don’t know,” he said. “She said it would be late again. Some case has had to be reopened,” he explained further.

Nanami nodded. “What were you thinking about?” she then asked.

“Just a project at school,” Nagisa answered. It really was easier to be honest it seemed.

“What’s it about?” Nanami asked.

Nagisa hesitated to answer, not sure if he wanted to say it or not. It shouldn’t hurt, but he knew it would lead to more questions that he didn’t want to answer. He was saved as his phone started ringing and he got it out of his pocket to see who was calling him.

“I’m sorry Nana-chan,” he said. “I have to answer this. It’s a classmate about that project,” he said.

Nanami nodded and went to do something else while Nagisa went down the hallway with the bedrooms. He hit the green bottom and put the phone to his ear.

“Nagisa, I’m done,” Gou said as soon as he picked up.

“That’s super-fast, Gou-chan,” Nagisa exclaimed. “How’d you do it?” he asked.

Gou laughed. “I’ve just researching skills within my genetics,” Nagisa wondered from which side of the family this came from. He had never seen said skills in Rin and Haruka. “Are you ready to go?” she asked.

“When are we leaving?” Nagisa asked.

“Tomorrow morning,” Gou said. “I am not telling mom, are you telling Makoto-san?” she asked.

“No, Mako-chan would just worry too much and try to stop me,” he said.

“Okay… so it’s going to be a secret trip,” Gou sounded a bit worried but Nagisa only felt excited when it was put like that. It sounded thrilling.

“What time are we leaving?” Nagisa asked.

“Whenever we catch a train. We leave when it’s time for school and pretend to go there, we meet up by the entrance of Tokyo central station,” she said.

“Okay,” Nagisa said. “See you tomorrow, Gou-chan,” he said.

“Yeah, bye Nagisa,” Gou said. Then the both of them hung up and Nagisa headed back to Nanami. The rest of the night he did everything he could to keep the conversation far away from himself and talk about Nanami instead, or led it on Haruka. Nanami was so fond of him.

* * *

 

The following morning Nagisa did his best to act like he always did. He smiled and really did pretend everything was good. He had breakfast with Makoto and Kisumi and felt a bit lonely at that. Tonight he won’t be here and they didn’t know of that.

He grabbed his school bag. He had taken out all his books and hidden them under his bed. Then he had filled it with stuff he would need, a photo of himself as younger taken from one of the photo albums Makoto kept, a fresh change of clothes and extra underwear (Rei would approve of that), his swimsuit (just in case), his lunch and his pay for the last weeks babysitting of Nanami.

He then left the house, pretending that he was going to school and then he headed for the station instead. He spend about 10 minutes in the train and then arrived at the central station and headed for the entrance. He was practically running in case Gou was waiting. She was very strict about keeping a lady waiting. She had told Chigusa that her boyfriend wasn’t worth it after he had shown up 5 minutes late for a date and she had been five minutes early.

Thankfully she wasn’t there yet and Nagisa stood and waited for about another 7 minutes until she showed up.

“You’re fast,” she said.

“Nah, you’re just slow, Gou-chan,” Nagisa argued with a bright smile on his face. “Do you know how much it costs from here to Iwatobi?” he asked.

“It’s about 4500 yen from Tokyo to Tottori-shi,” Gou said. ( _Tottori City_ )

“For one or both of us?” Nagisa asked.

“One of us, we need to pay 9000 to get there both and extra for the smaller train to Iwatobi,” she said.

Nagisa nodded and he and Gou went to buy the tickets. Since they didn’t have credit cards they had to use cash. It would make it harder for people to track them.

After buying the ticket they had to run for the train. They had noticed it was already there and it won’t be long before it left. They ran and pushed past the mass of people walking the other way. They just barely made it. The door closed right after Gou had jumped into the train and it departed from the station.

“We made it,” Gou said. She was leaned against the wall, her face was hot from the run and she was out of breath, so was Nagisa. He smiled at her.

“We did,” he smiled too. “Let’s go sit,”

Gou nodded and Nagisa took the lead to find a couple of seats for them and they sat together. Both were still smiling as their eyes met. They couldn’t believe they had just left home for the sake of a school project. They wondered what their parents would say.

“Now no regrets okay?” Gou asked as she opened her bag and picked up two cans of soda. She handed one to Nagisa who accepted.

“No regrets,” he said and they opened the cans and hit them together. They then started drinking as excitement spread through their bodies and they felt more and more confident the closer they got to Tottori-shi.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm writing a huge assignment at the moment which is supposed to fill 6 - 8 pages in word, without the notes, front page, literature list or anything else. Problem is I have only managed to write 4 and half a page so far, with the notes, I've been working all day and I'm tired of coming up with stupid stuff to write. I'm already repeating myself!.   
> I just really need a break from writing that stupid assignment.   
> I hope I survive this. If I do, I'll see you next time. 
> 
> Jackie.


	20. Homecomming

Haruka silently thanked the person who had got him and Rin a taxi to get home safely. He didn’t know who it was, but both him and Rin were so tired that if they had been in the train there was a high possibility they would have both fallen asleep and missed their stop. Right now, only Rin was asleep, leaned against the window and Haruka himself was fighting a losing battle against his own eyelids.

Ever since they left Japan at the beginning of Golden week, there had been nothing but swimming eating and sleeping on the program. In addition most of the time Haruka had been listening to nothing but English and he had been too busy with translating and attempt to communicate to think of anything else.

The taxi driver stopped. “Is this your address?” he asked.

Haruka looked around and nodded, recognizing the surroundings. Then he leaned across the backseat to place a hand on Rin’s shoulder. He shook it lightly to wake him up.

“Oi, Rin,” he said while shaking the other. “We’re here,”

Rin allowed one eye to open. He then closed it again and blinked with both eyes before focusing on Haruka. “That was fast,” he said tiredly.

Haruka send him a tired and slightly irritated look before getting out of the taxi. Rin followed and they collected their lockage from the back of the car. Rin attempted to pay the taxi driver.

“No thanks,” the man said with a smile. “I’ve already been paid for this,” he waved off the money Rin was offering him and headed back to the car. He drove off without another word.

“Well,” Rin looked at Haruka before grabbing his own back and head towards the building. Haruka was quick to follow, eager to go see his beloved bathtub before going to bed.

Rin opened the door and entered first. He placed his bag in the hallway and took off his shoes. Haruka did the same as Kisumi came from the living room with a strange expression on his face.

“Good,” he said. “You’re back,” Relief seemed to replace the strange expression that he had been wearing and he managed to send them a soft smile. “Makoto is almost panicking with worry,” he said.

Haruka forgot everything about bathtubs and being tired and to no one’s surprise pushed past both Rin and Kisumi to get to the living room in hopes of being able to comfort Makoto and ease his worries.

“What’s wrong?” Rin managed to ask as he started carrying his own bag to his and Haruka’s room. Kisumi quickly followed with Haruka’s.

“Various things, I don’t know the full story,” Kisumi answered.

Haruka walked to the chair which Makoto was sitting in. He was looking down at his hands which he held tightly. His shoulders were tense and so was the expression on his face, tense and worried. He wasn’t panicking as much as Kisumi had made it out to be, but he was clearly being worried of a high degree.

Haruka sat beside Makoto and placed a hand on his shoulder. Makoto looked up and their eyes met.

“Welcome back,” Makoto said with a voice like he was about to cry. Haruka didn’t comment on it. He was sure Makoto was already aware of it.

“What’s wrong?” he asked instead.

Makoto bit his lip. “A lot,” he said. “I don’t even know where to begin,” he said.

“Just the beginning,” Haruka said. He removed his hand from Makoto’s shoulder and they continued to look at each other. Makoto even managed to give a small smile before he started.

“Honestly, I’m not really sure when it all started. All I know is that Nagisa and Rei had an argument this Sunday, on the night before Rei went to Osaka,” he said.

Haruka wondered what Rei was doing in Osaka, but he wouldn’t interrupt Makoto with the question. He could ask for it later, or someone else could, Rin and Kisumi were both standing in the doorway and listening as well now.

“For four days in a row now, Nagisa has been home late and I don’t even know what he’s up to, I fear it’s something criminal, but just now, Matsuoka-san called me and asked if Gou was here, and Nagisa hasn’t come back yet. He left for school this morning and that without a trace. Matsuoka-san says that Gou wasn’t at school today, and I had also gotten a call that Nagisa has been absent,”

“Both Gou and Nagisa?” Rin asked.

Makoto nodded. “Both of them are missing it seems, and if that wasn’t enough, it seems a killer is loose. The police fear it is another serial killer, but so far there has only been one target,” he said. “They say it was a teenage boy named Fujioka Ryou and according to the police, he is a second year student at your school,”

“I’ll go do some digging on that,” Rin said. “Haru, call Gou or Nagisa and see if they answer,”

Haruka frowned at Rin, but did pull his phone out of his pocket.

“I’ve already tried calling Nagisa,” Makoto said. “He left his phone back here,”

Haruka nodded and called Gou’s number. The phone beeped for a couple of times before it was picked up by someone in the other end.

“This is Matsuoka Gou’s phone, you’re speaking to Hanamura Chigusa,” a female voice said.

“…Hanamura-san,” Haruka said hesitantly. “Do you know where Gou is?”

“No,” Gou’s best friend answered. “I’m sorry Nanase-san, neither Gou nor Hazuki-kun were at school today. Gou forgot her phone at my place yesterday and I intended to hand it back to her today…”

“Does Mikoshiba know anything?” Haruka asked.

“No, we were both discussing where they could be but came up with nothing. All I know is that Hazuki-kun has been acting weird in history class this Monday and Gou seems to know what’s wrong,” she said

Haruka nodded. “Thanks,” he said before hanging up

“What did she say?” Kisumi asked. Rin had left the room to go use a laptop somewhere.

“Hanamura-san picked up, apparently Gou forgot her phone at her place yesterday,” Haruka answered before standing up. “She mentioned that Nagisa acted weird at some point,” he said.

“When was that?” Makoto asked.

“This Monday in one of their classes,” Haruka said.

“That means there could be a reason for this,” Kisumi smiled. “And if we figure out the reason, we might learn what’s going on,”

“I’m still worried about what Nagisa has been out so late for,” Makoto said.

“He has been babysitting a girl for some time,” Haruka answered.

“Why? And who?” Makoto asked.

“Her name is Miyano Nanami,” Haruka said. “Her father is never home and her mother is working late,” he said. “She is a 3rd grader,”

Makoto looked stunned. “I never thought the day would come when Nagisa would willingly take on a job and earn money of his own,” he smiled softly at the thought. “Do you know where it’s at?” he asked.

“They live in the apartment we first moved to,” Haruka answered.

“That’s not that far,” Makoto got a thoughtful expression. “What’s her mother doing anyway?”

“I don’t know,” Haruka answered before getting up.

“Where are you going now?” Makoto asked worriedly.

“To Nagisa’s room to look for clues,” Haruka said before entering said room.

Rin was sitting by Rei’s laptop and reading through articles. He was very concentrated about it. He was so focused that he barely even looked up when Haruka entered and closed the door behind him.

“You know, it’s Fujioka-san’s younger brother,” Rin said. “She was interviewed for one of the articles,” he continued.

Haruka didn’t answer. He started looking through Nagisa’s stuff. He found that his swimsuit was missing, so were some of his clothes. This wasn’t strange though, seeing as they had to be washed every now and then. He looked through the bed and around it and found Nagisa’s school books under the bed.

“He didn’t go to school today,” Haruka said.

“And you didn’t get in touch with Gou?”

“She forgot her phone at Hanamura-san’s,” Haruka said.

Rin’s phone bussed and he picked it up while still reading on the internet. Haruka noticed that he didn’t check the caller ID before answering. In situations like this, it was important, but this fact just let him know that Rin wasn’t thinking clearly.

“Hello, it’s Rin,” Rin said. “Mother?” he asked. So it was their mother calling. “Yes, we’re both home safely,” “No, he hasn’t,” There was a long break now when Haruka guessed that she was giving some information to Rin. He noticed that Rin nodded a lot, taking in everything she said. “Yes, thanks mother. We’ll take over from here, don’t worry, they’ll be safe,” they said goodbye and Rin hung up.

“What?” Haruka asked.

“Mother found out that Gou has been looking at prizes for train tickets from here to Iwatobi. She thinks they could be there,” Rin said before putting the laptop aside and head out of the room to tell Makoto.

Haruka was left to his own thoughts for the first time since he went to Australia, but right now, he was thinking about a lot more than just water and philosophy. Rei in Osaka, Nagisa missing and a serial killer on the loose somewhere… Haruka had a feeling that all of the things were going to have a lot of influence on the next few days. It was true what he had figured as he and Rin left. Nothing was the same as when they left.


	21. Return

The train rolled into Iwatobi station and Nagisa and Gou stepped out. It was only a little past noon and they had plenty of time to dig into everything. They had spent some of the time in the train discussing where they would go. They had ended up agreeing on the orphanage where Nagisa was brought.

“Where is it?” Gou asked.

Nagisa looked around. “I’m not sure…” he said. “I think it’s this way,” they started walking in the direction Nagisa had pointed.

Gou was silent, but Nagisa started humming a song somewhere along the way. Gou recognized the song as one of those new pop-songs playing in the radio. Chigusa had sung it a lot lately. If Gou remembered correctly, she had said it was her favorite song.

“Where do you know that from?” Gou asked.

“The radio, Hana-chan said it was good,” Nagisa said. “But I don’t remember the lyrics,”

Gou started singing the chorus, the only thing she remembered of the song. Nagisa started laughing as she did so.

“What?” Gou asked as she finished.

“You’re really bad at singing, Gou-chan,” Nagisa laughed.

“It’s Kou, and so what?” Gou asked.

“Gou-chan, so stop singing,” Nagisa said.

“Kou, and I can sing if I want,” she argued. She started singing loudly as to prove her point.

“Gou-chan, my ears hurt!” Nagisa yelled while covering his ears, slightly overdoing the act.

“It’s Kou, Kou, Kou, Kou, Kou…” she continued to sing the melody on her own name while trying to tune out Nagisa’s complains about her singing voice.

“Gou, Gou, Gou, Gou, Gou…” Nagisa started singing along with her, causing her to think he wasn’t sounding any better than she was. Then what rights did he have to complain?

“Kou, Kou, Kou, Gou, Gou…” she sang.

“See, that’s your name,” Nagisa said.

Gou snorted at that. He had got her again and she hated it every time he did that. She soon got other stuff to think about though as they reached a crossroad.

“Which way?” she asked.

Nagisa looked thoughtful. “Maybe… left? Or no, maybe it’s right?” he said, looking confused to either side.

“Are you lost in your own home town?” Gou asked.

An almost invisible blush from embarrassment could be seen on Nagisa’s cheeks as he hesitantly gave the answer. “No…”

Gou sighed. “What’s the orphanage called?” she asked.

“Iwatobi Adopting center… I think…” Nagisa said. He was glad Gou wasn’t dwelling on the fact that he had gotten them lost.

Gou just nodded and went to ask a woman, who just happened to pass by, for directions. “Excuse me, but which way is the way to Iwatobi Adopting Center?” she asked.

The woman looked at her. “Aren’t you in the wrong age to go there?” she asked.

Gou shook her head. “We’re doing some digging on my friend’s family and if his memory serves, that’s where he was adopted from,” Gou said.

The woman nodded. “If you go to the left there and then turn right on the second street you should find it. There is a playground next to it. The building is white and about the biggest on the street. You won’t miss it,” she assured.

“Thank you very much,” Gou said as she bowed her head to the woman. Then she led the way to the orphanage with Nagisa in toe.

As they closed in on the orphanage, Nagisa started to get more familiar with the surroundings. They passed by the school Rei had gone to before they moved. Nagisa remembered he had waited there for Rei as often as possible. Sometimes people would come and ask him what he was doing there and offer to take him home, but he would always refuse. “I have to wait for Rei-chan,” he had said and they had left him alone.

They passed by the playground as well and Nagisa pointed it out to Gou.

“According to Mako-chan, this is where he saw Haru-chan for the first time. They would always stand here and Mako-chan would try talking to Haru-chan,” he said.

“Really?” Gou looked through the fence at the playground. She started thinking about how it had been. There were even some children playing there now.

“Come on, Gou-chan,” Nagisa called. He had already gone ahead and was waving at Gou from the entrance. He was grinning widely at her.

Gou hurried to catch up and they walked up to the orphanage together. They eyed each other and realized that they were both extremely nervous about the situation. Nagisa ended up being the one to open the door.

“Excuse us!” Gou called, feeling it was appropriate. “We… We would like to speak to a staff member?” There was nobody in the hall, but she hoped she was heard anyway.

A woman in her 40’s came down from upstairs. She was wearing the boring dust-gray staff uniform and wore a strict look. Nagisa didn’t recognize her. “What may I help you with?” she asked.

“Do you know anyone who worked here around…” Gou looked at Nagisa for help to get the right amount of years. “How old were you when you were brought here?” she asked.

“About a year,” Nagisa said. “16 years ago?” he finished Gou’s question.

“In that case… Maruyama-san worked here for about… 25 years? You can talk to her if you want,” the woman said.

“Could you take us to her?” Gou asked.

The woman nodded. “Follow me,” she said and led the way back upstairs. Nagisa and Gou followed her. She turned left and went down a hallway to the far end before knocking on a door. “Maruyama-san?” she asked. “There is someone here to see you?”

“Let them in,” a woman answered from the other side, and Nagisa and Gou were quickly let in. “You two are rather young,” Maruyama-san said as the door closed behind them. She had managed to take a good look at them before they could even look at her.

“We didn’t come to adopt,” Gou said. “We want to know…” she stopped, not really sure of how to continue.

“Maruyama-san, do you remember a boy named Hazuki Nagisa?” Nagisa asked.

Maruyama-san’s face was lit up with a smile. “Hazuki Nagisa, a troublesome case, but according to the man who adopted him, nice enough once you got to know him,” She looked at Nagisa. “Yes Hazuki-kun, I do remember you,” she said. “In fact I was both the one to receive you and send you off to the Tachibana family,” she said.

Nagisa nodded. “Then… Why did I end up here and where is my biological family?” he asked.

Maruyama-san thought about that for a while. “I’m sorry, Hazuki-kun,” she said. “I’m afraid I can’t answer that. You were brought here from the hospital. That’s all I know,”

“Where was that hospital?” Gou asked.

“Tottori-shi,” Maruyama-san said. “It’s their general hospital, I don’t know what happened to the rest of the family,” she said. “I suggest you stay in Iwatobi today and then go to Tottori-shi tomorrow,” she said.

Gou nodded. “We’ll do that then,” she said. “Thank you for your time,”

Nagisa nodded. “Yes, Thank you, Maruyama-san,” he said, and then he and Gou left the orphanage.


	22. Emotion

No one of members of the Tachibana family slept much that night. Sure Rin and Haruka did fall asleep as soon as their heads hit their pillows. How could they do otherwise when they were as tired as they were, regardless of how much they worried about Nagisa?

It had been about 1 in the morning once they finally went to bed, and when they got up again at around 6:30, Makoto was already up and sitting by the dining table. Haruka looked to Rin once he saw this. He highly doubted Makoto had been to bed at all that night.

“Good morning…” Rin said in a slightly insecure tone. He wasn’t sure how to approach Makoto when he was like this. Haruka wasn’t of much help because he didn’t know either. He just went and started making breakfast.

“Good morning Rin, Haru,” Makoto smiled at both of them, but there was a hint of worry in his eyes and he looked very tired. If Rin had to put words on it, he’d say Makoto looked 10 years older than his 37 years. How did he even manage to age so much overnight?

Kisumi came out as well and asked just that question. Makoto laughed in response.

They discussed on what to do about Nagisa being missing. It couldn’t be reported to the police yet and probably shouldn’t. If the police found out a teenage boy had gone missing there was a chance they would assume it was a murder, and right now a depressing cloud like that over their heads wasn’t exactly what they needed.

“Here’s my idea,” Rin said. “Haru and I will go to school and while we’re there, we will investigate what happened at that history class on Monday,” he said. “Also, we should clear out what happened between Nagisa and Rei,” he said.

“I’ll talk to Rei,” Haruka said and everyone turned to him with surprised expressions.

“Okay,” Makoto snapped out of the surprise as the first one. “Then you talk to Rei,” he said it softly. “Meanwhile I wi-“ He was cut off when Kisumi rose his hand.

“You’ll stay home and sleep in,” he said. “Judging from your appearance this morning, you didn’t sleep at all last night,”

“How do you expect me to do that?” Makoto asked.

Kisumi let out a frustrated sigh. “We’re working on it,” he said. “Nagisa will be back before you know it, but until we know what to do. You might as well just rest. You cause way more trouble when you’re exhausting yourself like this,” he said.

Makoto nodded while looking down at the table. He knew Kisumi was right, but he didn’t like being forced to sit at home and do nothing when he was the one responsible for Nagisa.

“Well, it’s time to go,” Rin said before standing up and grabbing his school back. “Haru, let’s go,” he waved at Haruka who stood up and followed him outside.

* * *

 

At school things were a lot more stressful than Rin and Haruka had expected. Sure they were at their third year, but they hadn’t expected to fall much behind from missing three days of school. But they got a lot to think about other than a missing Nagisa, a worried Makoto and a murder on the loose. They were lucky they had some kind classmates who were willing to copy their notes for them.

It was only when Rin passed by Nagisa’s history teacher that he remembered to ask about that history class. Haruka wasn’t there at the moment. He was out copying notes with another classmate. Rin would have to do this without him.

“Excuse me?” He asked and the man stopped.

“Yes… you’re Matsuoka-kun, right?” he asked. “What can I do?”

Rin took a deep breath. “I heard Nagisa was acting out in history class this Monday. Do you mind telling me what happened?” he asked.

The teacher looked confused. “Sure…” he said. “I gave the class a task to look up if they were related to some historical person or perhaps to one another. I don’t know why, but after I explained, Hazuki-kun claimed that he refused to do it and left the classroom. Matsuoka-san went after him shortly after. They never returned. But Hazuki-kun has also acted out in other classes, according to his math teacher, he had had to send him out,”

Rin nodded. “Thank you, sensei,” he said.

The teacher nodded. “No problem Matsuoka-kun,” he said. “Is there a particular reason why you ask?” he asked.

“Nagisa and Gou have both gone missing and we learned from a friend of theirs that something happened in your class that could explain why,” Rin said.

The teacher nodded. “I hope I haven’t done something wrong,” he said.

Rin nodded and continued down the hallway. He had to tell Haruka about this. He had a feeling that not a single piece of info he had gotten from the teacher was unimportant.

However, when Rin told Haruka about this he got a strange feeling that Haruka was already aware of at least some of it. Haruka stood up as Rin finished explaining and grabbed his phone.

“Haru, class is starting in two minutes,” Rin said.

“I’ll be late,” Haruka just answered before heading out of the classroom while dialing Rei’s number on his phone. He hit the green bottom to call the older one and waited patiently for Rei to pick up as he went to the roof.

“Hello, it’s Ryugazaki,” Rei answered as he picked up.

“Rei,” Haruka said in a slightly hard tone. “Nagisa has run away,”

Rei was silent for a bit. “So he has?” he asked.

Rei’s words angered Haruka more than he expected. “Originally I called to know what your argument was about, but I’d also like to know if there are a few things you are even aware of?”

“Such as?” Rei asked.

“Did you know that Nagisa was kicked out of math class?” Haruka asked.

“Isn’t that his own fault for not keeping up?” Rei asked.

“He tries,” Haruka said. “But he can’t without your help. You have left him behind, Rei, and that upsets him,” he explained.

“Haruka, I don’t see where you get all this from,” Rei said in an impatient tone.

“I got it from Nagisa,” Haruka said.

“As to what we argued about, we argued about various things,” Rei said. “He was being irresponsible and he spied on me for who knows what reasons,” Rei said.

Haruka nodded. “I think Nagisa wanted to help them out because their situation is a bit similar to how ours was three years ago,” he said. “He wondered when you’d notice,”

“So?” Rei asked. “Haruka, I don’t have the time to talk about this, the project in Osaka is craving all my attention so I will go now,”

“Osaka is not where you should be,” Haruka mumbled but Rei had already hung up and didn’t hear his final words. He looked at the display of his phone. At least he had gotten some answers and spoken to Rei. He could just hope that Rei would realize that he had to make up with Nagisa if everything had to be okay again.


	23. Hospital

The following morning, Nagisa and Gou could be found at Iwatobi train station, waiting for the train that would take them to Tottori-shi. They each held a box full of rice balls. This was their breakfast for today. The sun was shining and the sky was as clear blue as ever.

“The weather is nice today,” Gou said to try and start a conversation.

“It sure is, Gou-chan,” Nagisa answered while taking a bite of a rice ball.

Gou didn’t know what else to say on that topic, so she changed it to something else. “Do you think they have started to miss us… back at home?” she asked. She held up a rice ball of her own with a thoughtful look on her face.

“My family might not have,” Nagisa said. “But Momo-chan and Hana-chan probably have,” he smiled cheerfully at the maroon haired girl.

Gou nodded. “My mom is probably worried too, I have never went somewhere overnight without telling her where I was,” she said.

“I haven’t either,” Nagisa said.

“Then how come you don’t think they’ll notice and worry about you?” Gou asked.

Nagisa shrugged, a saddened look appeared on his face. “Mako-chan and Kisu-chan are both busy because Kisu-chan lost his job as model recently, Haru-chan and Rin-chan are thinking about their future plans, and you heard what Rei-chan said the other day,” Nagisa answered.

Gou nodded. She had never experienced that people around her were too busy to care about her because she had always just lived with her mother, but she could still somewhat relate to what Nagisa was feeling.

She was snapped out of her thought when the train rolled in on the station and both she and Nagisa got busy boarding it before it left again.

* * *

 

The station in Tottori-shi was, of course, bigger than the one in Iwatobi, but still rather small compared to the one in Tokyo. Nagisa and Gou only stuck around long enough to find out where the general hospital was at and then they headed that way.

The hospital was difficult to find from the station. Gou claimed that it was the one who gave the directions who was to blame, but Nagisa stated that it was Just Gou who forgot where they went. In total, they got lost about twice before reaching the tall light gray building that was the hospital in Tottori-shi.

They entered through the giant glass doors, and then stopped, not being sure of where to go and what to ask in order to get the information they needed, from about 17 years ago.

“Who do we ask?” Gou looked at Nagisa while trying to think her hardest about the problem.

“What about asking in the reception?” Nagisa asked, and before Gou could manage to agree or disagree with the idea, Nagisa had already gone ahead and walked up to the nearest receptionist. Thankfully it wasn’t a busy day, so there was no line.

“What may I do for you?” the receptionist asked.

“I would like to ask about a family named Hazuki who had something to do with this hospital about 16 – 17 years ago,” Nagisa answered her with his brightest, most innocent smile.

Gou reached them in time to see how the receptionist was taken aback by this smile and automatically smiled back.

“I will see what I can find,” she answered before she started to research on her computer for the requested information. She was silent for some time while just typing on her keyboard. After around 10 minutes she looked back up at them with a saddened expression.

“What is it?” Gou asked, sensing there was something a bit off.

“I did manage to find something under the name Hazuki,” she said. “But unfortunately, it seems they are not alive anymore. All that is left is their youngest child, Hazuki Nagisa,” she said.

“Do you know what happened to them?” Nagisa asked.

The woman shook her head. “No, I don’t,” she said. “I can’t give you more information either unless you are actually a member of the family,” she said.

Nagisa smiled brightly at her. “Well, I am Hazuki Nagisa, where do I get more?” he asked.

The receptionist was literally stunned at this fact, and then a kind smile appeared on her face as she looked at her screen again for more information.

“Well, you could ask the nurse who drove you to the orphanage where you was brought,” she said.

“Where is she?” Gou asked curiously.

“She retired about 10 years ago,” the receptionist answered.

“If she retired, then do you know where she is now?” Gou asked.

“I will have to ask someone who knew her better,” the receptionist said. “Wait here for a moment if you’d please,” she got out of her chair and headed through a door behind her to a hallway. Nagisa and Gou were left just standing there.

It took some time before the receptionist returned with a soft look on her face. “According to one of my colleagues, she went to live with some family in Osaka right after her retirement,” she said. “I don’t have an address, but her name was Tamura Shiori,”

Both Nagisa and Gou nodded.

“Alright,” Gou said. “Thank you for your time,”

“Yes, and thanks for your information,” Nagisa continued. “You helped us a lot,” he smiled and waved as he and Gou exited the hospital.

* * *

 

The two walked around the streets for a little while. Nagisa had grown hungry after seeing an expensive strawberry cake, and Gou wanted some coffee, so they went to a small café to satisfy their desires. Nagisa had a cheaper version of the strawberry cake he wanted so badly along with a cup of tea, and Gou had her coffee and a cookie. While they ate they said nothing, until Gou broke the silence.

“Osaka,” she said while studying her cookie. “Isn’t that where Ryugazaki-san went?” she asked.

Nagisa stopped his movements. He was about to wipe the last whipped crème off his plate, but he turned to look up at Gou. He nodded once in response.

“So we are going there too?” she asked.

Nagisa nodded, again only once. “Yeah, we just have to speak to Tamura-san,” he said with a smile.

“You don’t think Ryugazaki-san will notice?” Gou asked.

Nagisa shook his head. “No, Rei-chan’s too busy with his project to look twice at me these days, he won’t even care,”

Gou bit her lip and decided to leave the subject alone. Judging from the dark look on Nagisa’s face it was clearly something he didn’t want to talk about at all.

“When are we going?” Gou went and asked a much more practical question, hoping that would make Nagisa seem more positive about the situation.

“Tomorrow?” he suggested.

“Then where do we sleep tonight?” Gou asked.

Nagisa thought about that for a bit. “We don’t sleep,” he said. “We’ll party all night!” a laugh escaped him.

Gou shook her head. “Think seriously, Nagisa,” she demanded. “I want to sleep somewhere at least. The benches at your old school weren’t even comfortable,”

Nagisa thought. “Then you find a place, Gou-chan,” he said, figuring he had decided enough for today.

Gou sighed at the hopeless case she had decided to travel across Japan with. Then again, if Nagisa was a hopeless case, what did that make her for deciding to do this with him and support him during this stupid trip? She regretted falling for Nagisa’s sad expression that one day outside their history class. Had it really only been four days ago?

“Gou-chan?” Nagisa said while looking down at the teacup he was holding with both hands.

“What is it?” Gou turned to look at Nagisa, even if he wasn’t looking at her in the first place. She was surprised at the quiet tone he used when addressing her just now.

“Thank you for traveling with me, Gou-chan,” he said.

There he was again, making her emotions grow soft from just a couple of words and a childish attitude. She really did wonder who was the more hopeless case of the two of them.

“You’re welcome, Nagisa,” she said. “This is the least I could do,” she smiled at him as he looked up at her in return. His magenta eyes were shining with joy.

“Gou-chan, I promise we will go home as soon as we are done with this,” he said.

“Thanks,” Gou smiled. Nagisa had seen through her and already figured, probably long ago, that she wasn’t much into the idea of running away as soon as they had left. He just hadn’t said a word, and she didn’t either until now. She silently thanked Nagisa’s adoptive father for the fit of kindness Nagisa had just shown.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, did anyone think something bad was going to happen? I wonder. I figure a title like "Hospital" is mainly used for chapters when something bad has happened that involve people going to the hospital.   
> Thanks for reading this story. I know that compared to the prequel to this, Free Parenting, the characters are way more OOC in this story. I'd like to apologize for that. But that's what's expected from a sequel to a good first story. Usually they turn out worse. But it is hard to create something similar to something good, no matter how hard you try, it will in most cases turn bad.   
> That's the words from me for today.   
> See you next time
> 
> Jackie


	24. Danger

Rin and Haruka had just finished one of the longest school days of their lives. Both of them were too exhausted to look anywhere other than their feet. They were both grateful that all swimming practice had been called off until next week because of the international tournament. This was at least the case for the two of them.

They were so exhausted they didn’t notice the little girl across the street until she was about to cross it on her own while calling for their attention.

“Nanase-sama!” Nanami yelled out.

Haruka’s head snapped up and he looked at her.

“Isn’t that Nanami?” Rin asked. He too was looking up at the girl now. Then he noticed what she was about to do and turned to face her fully. “Stop, Nanami!” he called.

The girl stopped, and just in time. She had had her attention too focused on Rin and Haruka to notice the car approaching. It drove by, right in front of her.

“Okay,” Rin said after looking to both sides and confirmed there were no cars approaching now. “You can go now, but look to both sides.”

Nanami crossed the street with a happy smile. “This is the first time I crossed the street alone,” she said proudly as she stood in front of Rin and Haruka.

“Won’t your mother let you?” Rin asked.

Nanami shook her head. “She won’t,” they were silent for a bit before Nanami spoke again. “Matsuoka-sama, Nanase-sama, okaa-san told me to ask you to look after me tonight since Nagisa-san didn’t show up yesterday, she figured something was wrong,” the little girl spoke in a saddened tone. She clearly was upset that Nagisa hadn’t been there.

“Did you wait for him?” Rin asked.

Nanami nodded. “But then Yamasaki-san came with two others and one of them said he hadn’t been at school today. Yamasaki-san took me home and called okaa-san about it. His mother then looked after me until okaa-san came home, but I don’t like being with the Yamasaki family. The men are scary and the woman is strict!” she said.

Rin laughed. “Well, Sousuke can come off as a scary person sometimes,” he said. “Sure we can look after you, but one of us need to go home and tell our father something first,” he said.

“Okaa-san says it’s no good for anyone to walk alone,” Nanami said.

“I’ll be careful,” Rin assured while walking a bit in the direction of their home. “Haru, you walk Nanami home and stay with her. I won’t take long,”

Haruka frowned. Rin was hiding it well, but he knew this was another attempt from him to act like an older brother and try to protect both Haruka and Nanami. There was no reason for him not to go along with it though. He let out a slightly irritated sound.

“Don’t get in trouble,” he said.

Rin smiled brightly. “Not on my life,” he promised before walking away from the two as fast as he could. He planned to make it another running practice. That way he would train his muscles and get home quickly. This was another reason why Rin had decided to go home. If he had walked with Nanami, he would have to walk and won’t get anything out of it.

* * *

 

When Rin entered the house, Kisumi was already there and he could hear both him and Makoto chatting in the kitchen. He took off his shoes and headed there. He saw Kisumi and Makoto sitting on either side of the table, each with a cup of tea in front of them and both with serious expressions on their faces.

“Hey,” Rin said. He walked in, grabbed a chair and sat down beside Kisumi.

“Hey Rin,” Makoto said. “Where’s Haru?” he asked.

“We have been asked to take over Nagisa’s babysitting job, so Haru is with Nanami at the moment,” Rin said.

“Did you go home on your own?” Makoto asked worriedly.

“I ran,” Rin answered.

Kisumi leaned back. “Not good,” he said. “They are warning about people up to the age of 20 walking alone around town. You have to be at least two people walking together,”

“Nanami came with that warning too, from her mother,” Rin said. “That’s why I decided to go here. I have important information to give,” Rin said.

“What is it?” Makoto asked. “About Nagisa?” his eyes were shining with a need to know exactly what Rin had to tell them. Rin understood. This was how any parent would feel if their child had gone missing.

Rin let off all the information he had gotten from Nagisa’s history teacher and explained everything Haruka had told him as well, after his conversation with Rei. Makoto listened to every word Rin said and nodded occasionally. An understanding look was about to show on his face.

“Did Nagisa then go to Iwatobi?” Kisumi asked.

Makoto nodded. “He went there,” he said. “But I’m almost certain he has left that place again…” He looked down at his teacup. “The question is where they went afterwards,” he said.

Kisumi attempted a smile. “Well,” he said. “No matter where they are, let’s hope they’re safe,”

Makoto nodded. “Let’s hope so,” Then he looked to Rin. “Are you going to Nanami’s place too?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Rin said. “I’m not allowing Haru to walk home on his own. I’m not going to-“ he stopped himself to rethink his sentence. He had been about to say that he wasn’t going to lose Haruka again, but he couldn’t say that. Makoto didn’t know that he and Haruka had been in Shinjuku when the serial killer from two years ago had died. “I’m not going to let Haru risk getting into a dangerous situation,” he said.

Makoto nodded and stood. “I’ll drive you there,” he said. “I want to go just a little out today,” He looked at Kisumi as if waiting for an approval of this decision. Kisumi nodded once with a smile and Makoto let the way out of the apartment. Rin followed him down to the car.

* * *

 

Miyano-san won’t be home until late that night. She had told Haruka on the phone while he had been there alone with Nanami. Rin had arrived shortly after the phone call had ended and had informed Makoto of this by text.

Their dinner for the night was some warmed up undo noodles and some vegetables Haruka found and fried, causing Rin to declare that Haruka was showing off.

“I’m supplying,” Haruka just said to defeat Rin’s stupid argument. He had his focus on the frying pan while doing this and Rin thought it was almost like when they used to live at this place. Haruka had always been the one preparing their meals there, unless Kisumi brought take-away or Makoto decided to make it.

They ate shortly after this and after playing some card-games with Nanami – Rin taught both her and Haruka a game which Nanami became very fond of, Nanami was send to bed. Rin and Haruka could soon sit back and do their homework by the dining table in the kitchen, with the TV on in the living room.

The news went on in the living room and both Rin’s and Haruka’s attention was claimed by the first words the host spoke.

“A report from the police states that we might be seeing a repeat of the serial killings from almost three years ago,” he said.

Rin and Haruka both got out of their chairs. They had forgotten everything about homework as they sat down in front of the TV. Haruka had no expression on his face, but Rin had a serious and worried look on his face as both their eyes locked on the TV screen.

“Two more teenage boys have been discovered within the past 24 hours,” the host said. “One was killed last night while the other body had only just been murdered when he was found. So far, all the three boys have in common is the fact that they are all male, teenagers in the age between 17 and 19, and the way their throats were slid and their bodies were posed,” The host looked serious. “According to Officer Aoyama Taichi, the setup of the murder is similar to the murders seen about two and half a year ago,”

The mentioned officer appeared on the TV screen and confirmed the words. He explained it all into further detail with a serious expression and tone.

“I’m gonna have to talk to Sousuke,” Rin said and got up. He didn’t even manage to take a step before he felt a tight grip around his wrist. He looked down to see Haruka staring at him. The unspoken ‘no’ was written all over his face.

Rin sighed and sat back down, deciding that he could always talk to Sousuke about this tomorrow if he absolutely had to.

At 11, Miyano-san returned to the apartment. She was exhausted, but decided that she still had energy enough to drive Rin and Haruka home. She said she didn’t want them to walk around at night at a time like this. Both Rin and Haruka were surprised at exactly how grateful they were for this action.  


	25. Finding

The train stopped and Gou and Nagisa jumped out as soon as the doors opened. It was Friday morning and the time was only a little past 9. They had been in the train for two and half an hour. They were now in Osaka, and there were way more people on this station than there had been at Tottori-shi.

“What was her name again?” Gou asked as they got outside on the street.

“I think it was Tamura Shiori,” Nagisa said.

“How do we find her?” Gou asked.

Nagisa thought. “Walk around in town and ask?” He suggested.

Gou sighed. Nagisa wasn’t dumb, but when he couldn’t come up with any weird ideas, he usually tended to just get lazy and not want to think up anything serious. She realized it might have been good for him that she tagged along. Without her, who knows where he would have ended up?

“Maybe we should try to ask at a post office or something?” She suggested. “Someone must have her address there,”

Nagisa nodded, but didn’t do an attempt to look around for an office. It seemed his mind had gone elsewhere. Gou wondered what he was thinking about, but decided to leave it be. She was almost certain he was thinking about Rei and if she started asking about it, the mood would fall to very uncomfortable and stay like that until Nagisa had had enough.

Gou led the way to the nearest post office. Luckily for them, it was within sight. It was just a little further down the street, and even more luckily was it that there were no costumers.

“Excuse me,” Gou called as she approached one of the people sitting there, a man in his late 40’s.

“What may I do for you?” He asked politely. Their eyes met in a brief second and Gou noticed that he was wondering what in the world two kids were doing here at this time of day. A gut feeling told her, that they would probably get in trouble if they told this guy too much. She had to think carefully about her words.

“We are looking for a Tamura Shiori-san,” Gou asked.

“What makes you come here for that information?” he asked.

“Well…” Gou hesitated.

“We are her cousin’s children,” Nagisa stepped in and saved Gou before her hesitation became too obvious. “They were really close back in the day but our mother is very sick and we had to tell Tamura-san. The problem is that she and mother had a falling out and then… Tamura-san moved away from her old address. We were told she moved here, but we don’t know the new address,” Nagisa said.

“And you don’t have a phone number or anything?” the man asked suspiciously.

“No,” Nagisa shook his head violently.

“Did you know she was living with her parents?” he asked.

“Our mother lost contact with the entire family before we were even born,” Nagisa said with a saddened look.

Gou wondered if he was overdoing it. She wondered if anyone would buy it, but she had no right to complain. Any lie was better than an uncomfortable silence, and there was always a chance he did believe them.

“I see,” The man looked at a laptop. “Tell me your names and I will give you the address,”

Gou looked at Nagisa, and he looked back at her. None of them knew what name to give. Their own names were a little outstanding.

“I’m Tachibana Naruto,” Nagisa said in lack of anything better. Then he looked at Gou.

“I’m…” she bit her lip before giving up her name. “Tachibana Kou,” she said. They would have to give up the same surname if they wanted their story of being siblings to be believable.

The man gave the address with an unwilling expression that made the worry return to Gou. Again she wondered if he believed them, and something told her that he didn’t. But then what did he think they wanted, and what was he going to do once they had left the post office?

* * *

 

The area was peaceful. Once Nagisa and Gou got off the bus, a strong scent of flowers surrounded them. There were many. This was a little outside Osaka, with little houses with gardens with plenty of colorful flowers. Nagisa found himself thinking about how Rei would call it beautiful to no end. He smiled at the thought.

“It was somewhere around here, right?” Gou asked.

Nagisa looked at the map they had borrowed and nodded. “I think it’s up there and to the left,” he said.

Gou nodded and started walking. Nagisa followed in a quick pace. They followed the directions and indeed ended up in front of a house with Tamura written outside.

“Guess it’s here,” Gou said.

Nagisa nodded. “Let’s go,” he said. “I want to know about this,” he said.

“We have to ask if she is there though,” Gou warned in a slightly worried tone.

“Relax Gou-chan,” Nagisa said calmly. “She has to be there, everything has been right so far,”

“He could have given us the directions to a wrong Tamura family,” Gou said.

Nagisa doubted that fact and walked ahead. He entered the garden and with determined steps he approached the front door of the Tamura home. Gou hesitantly followed as Nagisa rang the doorbell. She stood half behind him as they waited for someone to open the door.

After about 5 minutes, the door opened and an elderly woman peaked out. “Oh,” she said. “It’s been a while since we had such young people come to visit,” she said. “And if we have, it has only been family,”

“Are you Tamura Shiori-san who worked at the general hospital at Tottori-shi?” Nagisa asked.

The woman looked slightly surprised, but then nodded. “That’s me,” she said. “What do you want?”

Nagisa took in a deep breath. “My name is Hazuki Nagisa, I want to know what exactly happened to my biological family,” he said.

Tamura-san said nothing at first. She just nodded. It seemed she had to adjust to the thought. Then she smiled and little winkles were shown on most of her face. “Come in both of you. I will make some tea,” she said. “I am the only one at home right now, so don’t worry about disturbing anyone,” she said.

“Thank you, Tamura-san,” Gou said as both she and Nagisa entered. Nagisa also delivered a thank you on his way into the small house.

Tamura-san went into a small kitchen and started preparing tea for her two young guests. She asked them to sit by the small dining table as she put the water on the stove. After a little more than five minutes, she came and sat with them. She had a tray with a teapot and three cups on it. She poured tea in all three cups and handed one to Gou and one to Nagisa before sitting down with her own.

“How much do you know already?” she looked at Nagisa.

“I know that my family died and that you brought me to the orphanage where I was adopted from,” Nagisa answered while taking a sip of the hot tea.

Tamura-san nodded. “I was also there when it happened. It was rather disturbing,”

“What happened?” Nagisa asked.

Tamura looked thoughtful. “It is not a pleasant tale. I have been looking into it, so I know most of what happened and what led to the death of your entire family. Your parents and your older sisters were all killed in the same time, you see,”

Nagisa got even more curious. “Please tell me!” He begged. “I want to know!”

Tamura-san sighed. “It all began back here in Osaka,” she paused, “with a family named Ryugazaki,”

Gou found her gaze turning from the teacup, which she was holding tightly, to Nagisa, to see his reaction. His round, magenta eyes were wide with the surprise and his hands were also holding the teacup tightly. He was tense, so tense that he was shaking. So many emotions were displayed on his face that Gou found it impossible to interpret.


	26. Broke

“Please continue, Tamura-san,” Nagisa said as he got the control of his facial expression back and flashed the elderly woman a kind smile.

Tamura-san nodded. “As far as I have heard, the father of the Ryugazaki family was abusive, both to his wife and his two sons. One night, he took it too far and ended up killing his oldest son. He was about 8 years old or so,” she said with a saddened tone.

Nagisa bit his lips as he started thinking about how common a surname Ryugazaki was. As far as he knew, it wasn’t very common. There was still hope though. Osaka and Iwatobi were far from each other. Weren’t they?

“Not many days after, possibly the following day, the mother gathered all her things and ran away. She didn’t bring her remaining child. Nobody knows where she disappeared to, and her husband possibly didn’t care. Her disappearance was discovered by her colleagues. She was found that same night when she crashed into another car, killing herself, and almost the entire family in the other car. There were two survivors of the other family, a young girl at about preschool age and a baby boy. You may have already figured that the boy was yourself. Both children were taken to the hospital, but the girl was too badly injured and died during surgery. Only the boy escaped unharmed,”

“Nagisa was unharmed?” Gou asked slightly surprised. In her opinion it should be next to impossible to escape such an accident without a single injury.

“Not one,” Tamura-san said. “If you want to know, they found a considerable amount of alcohol in Ryugazaki-san’s blood. It is highly possible she got herself drunk once she got to Tottori-shi,”

“What happened to the father and the youngest son?” Nagisa asked, suddenly not caring at all about his own family.

“Well, the authorities found out about this whole thing and removed the boy from his father immediately. The father was sent to jail while the boy was send to an orphanage in Tottori-ken,” Tamura-san said. “I don’t know where in the prefecture though,” she said.

Nagisa nodded.

“May I ask, do you know if the Hazuki family lived in Tottori-shi?” Gou asked.

“No, they didn’t. They were from Hiroshima if I’m not mistaken,” Tamura said.

Gou and Nagisa exchanged looks. “If we want to know more about your family, we have to go to Hiroshima then,” Gou said with a soft smile. “We can’t stay in Osaka forever,”

Nagisa nodded again. “I wonder… was it really Rei-chan’s family?” he asked.

“We don’t know the boy’s first name, nor his age, so I can’t say. All we know is that he was younger than 8 years old,” Gou responded with an irritated tone in her voice.

“The youngest Ryugazaki boy?” Tamura-san asked slightly confused. “Do you want to know that too?” she asked.

Nagisa nodded eagerly. “If you know, would you tell us, Tamura-san?” he asked.

Tamura-san nodded. “I am not sure, but I have read it before. I think he was about 4 years old and his name was… Rei?” she said the last in a slightly questioning way. “Do you know him?” she asked.

“We were at the same orphanage,” Nagisa said. “Rei-chan has been like a big-brother to me as long as I can remember,” he smiled at the thought of how their relationship used to be.

“Well,” Gou said. She had started feeling uncomfortable. “We should get going to Hiroshima,” she said.

“Hold on,” Tamura-san said as she stood. “I’ll make you some bentos,”

So Tamura-san made them lunch for their trip and saw them off as she left. She was smiling kindly at both teens all the way.

* * *

 

As Gou and Nagisa made it Osaka central station they both felt like they had learned something more from their visit to Osaka. They took a short time to look at the town for a short while. Gou eyed the post office which they had been at earlier that morning. An uneasy feeling was welling up inside her, but she didn’t know what it was for. There was nothing different about the place from when she first saw it.

“Well, it was Hiroshima right?” Nagisa said. He was checking the tickets for the far journey.

“Yes,” Gou said and turned her attention to the screen. “How much is it?”

“5000 yen,” Nagisa said.

Gous eyes widened. “That’s 10000 for the both of us!” she nearly yelled. “That’s expensive!” She thought for a second. “Do we even have that much?”

Nagisa looked in his wallet. After traveling to Tottori-shi they had decided that only one of them should hold on to the money. It ended up being decided by rock-paper-scissors and Nagisa had won. Now he held the money.

“We have 3000 yen,” he said.

Gou bit her lip. “That’s not even enough for one of us to get there,” she said. “What about back to Tokyo?” she asked.

“3000 for one person,” Nagisa said.

“How far can the two of us get?” Gou asked and looked at the screens.

Nagisa studied it too and was first to find the answer. “We might be able to make it to Nagoya,” he said hesitantly.

Gou sighed. “That’s not very far,” she said. She started thinking seriously about what they were going to do about this whole situation. They could get to Nagoya at best and that wasn’t far enough. Maybe they could find Tamura-san and ask her to host them until they found out what to do, but considering they were strangers, it seemed a bit rude to ask that much. If only Gou hadn’t decided for them to stay at that inn in Tottori-shi last night. Why had her comfort gotten the best of her right then?

She was snapped out of her thoughts when Nagisa walked to the ticket automat and prepared to buy a ticket. She followed him and looked over his shoulder as he picked the destination, Tokyo.

“Nagisa, what are you doing!” she exclaimed.

“Gou-chan, you’re going home,” Nagisa said.

Gou shook her head violently. Her ponytail was almost whipping her face over and over. “I refuse,” she said. “I’m not going home without you,” the last was almost a yell as she felt her eyes tearing up from the unthinkable thought.

Nagisa nodded. “You are,” he said. “I promised you yesterday, I would make sure you came home as soon as possible,” he said. “This is my fault,” he said. “You have to get home safely and then I’ll find a way to manage,”

Gou attempted to smile. “Stop being a fool and acting like a hero,” she said. “I’m not going,” she said.

“Your mother, Rin-chan and Haru-chan are all worried about you, so is Hana-chan and Momo-chan,” Nagisa said. “I’ll be fine here,” he assured.

Gou sighed, allowing the tears to reappear in her eyes. “You really want me to go home, right?” she asked.

Nagisa nodded. “It’s better if one of us go home than we are both lost and broke,” he said.

Gou nodded and allowed Nagisa to finish buying the ticket. She wasn’t even sure how to feel anymore. She hated the fact that she was going to leave Nagisa behind, but her classmate didn’t give her any other choice than to go home and wait. They had been gone for three days now. He was right, everyone had got to be worried back there, not just her mother, her brothers and her friends, but also Makoto, Kisumi and maybe Rei too, if he even knew that Nagisa was missing.

“Go, Gou-chan,” Nagisa said as he handed the ticket to her. Gou looked up and noticed the tears in Nagisa’s eyes as well. This was also difficult for him. She understood. He spent their last money on getting her home and thereby he had nothing for himself.

“Take care, Nagisa,” she said. “I… I’ll speak to Makoto-san and let him know where you are,”

Nagisa nodded and then hugged Gou goodbye. They then parted ways. Gou went to catch the next train to Tokyo and Nagisa went out to who knows what. He didn’t even turn around to watch Gou leave. Gou knew this, because she turned to watch him.


	27. Unable

Miyano-san had been unable to pick up Nanami from school and therefore she had, by text, asked Rin and Haruka to walk her home. However, Rin had to go for a run with Sousuke, so he couldn’t go. It wasn’t like Haruka couldn’t have talked him out of doing that and walk with them instead, but he was sick and tired of having Rin watching over him. It had only been a day and a half, but that seemed to be more than enough time to irritate Haruka.

Therefore, Haruka and Nanami were walking to Nanami’s place together from school while Rin and Sousuke were out running around town somewhere. Haruka walked in a slower pace than usual as the younger girl could keep up. They said nothing as they walked. Not until Nanami broke the silence anyway.

“Do you know where Nagisa-san is?” she asked.

Haruka looked down at her, not sure how to answer the question. Had she even been informed that Nagisa had gone missing? Haruka didn’t remember.

“No,” he said, unsure of what Nanami’s reaction would be to this answer.

“Do you think the serial killer got him?” Nanami continued.

“I doubt it,” Haruka said. “He is not in town, and how do you even know that?” he asked.

“Okaa-san spoke about it on the phone this morning,” Nanami answered.

Haruka nodded, and the two of them fell silent again. Their steps were almost echoing through the street. For some reason, this street was completely deserted. If Haruka had to be honest, it all made him tense up just a little bit.

“Nanase-sama?” Nanami asked as she sensed Haruka’s tension. She turned her head to ask if something was the matter, but never got to say that. A person wearing a hoodie stood behind Haruka, he held an iron object in his hand. Nanami couldn’t see what it was, but it was possibly a pipe or something like that. The man used it to hit Haruka in the head and knock him out cold. He then looked at Nanami.

“Don’t say a word until I’m gone,” he said.

Nanami shook her head, took in a breath and prepared to scream, but the man had seen it coming and put some adhesive tape over her mouth and around her hands. He then pushed her as she fell back on the ground. She could only watch as he picked the unconscious Haruka up and carried him into his car and drove off.

The sky was clear, Nanami could see that. She was glad it wasn’t raining, even if it would have set the scene perfectly, just like in the anime she used to watch on TV at home every now and then. It always rained when something bad happened.

She didn’t know how much time passed. No one passed by through all this time. She had never felt more alone and helpless. She wanted to tell someone what had happened, but she didn’t own a phone, and even if she did, she couldn’t break free and get it, even if she wanted to.

Finally she heard footsteps coming towards her. She saw the dark, huge figure leaning over her as she prayed the person was someone she knew.

“Nanami?” It was the voice of Yamasaki Sousuke. He said nothing as he helped her to sit up and freed her hands, and then her mouth as she could speak again. Relief washed over the girl. “What happened?” Sousuke asked.

Nanami bit her lip. “Nanase-sama…” she said. She didn’t know to put the words together at first, even if she had had all this time to figure out what to say once she was found. “Nanase-sama has been kidnapped,” tears welled up in her eyes and fell down her cheeks, though she didn’t let a sound escape her.

Sousuke just nodded and pulled out his own phone. “I’ll call Rin and tell him,” he said. “Then I’ll take you home,” He tried to smile, and Nanami smiled back. She had to admit, Sousuke looked much less scary when he smiled. In this moment, she actually found comfort in the enormous teen.

“Hello,” Rin had picked up the phone in the other end. “Sousuke, why are you calling so quickly? I’ve barely made it through the door,”

“Rin,” Sousuke said in a serious tone. “I just found Nanami tied up with adhesive tape,” He paused to let the information sink in before he continued. “She says someone kidnapped Nanase,”

Rin was frozen on the spot. “What?” he asked. “Haru has been…” He didn’t speak the last word and Sousuke decided to do it for him.

“Kidnapped, yes,” he said. “You can speak to Nanami if you want, but I highly doubt you will get a different story out of her,”

“Are you sure of this?” Rin asked.

“I don’t doubt her, and with all the things going down lately, I don’t see a reason to start doubting her now,” Sousuke said. “I’m going to take Nanami home,” he then continued. “You should start looking for your missing family members,”

Rin nodded once. “You’re right,” he said. “Thanks for letting me know about this,”

“That’s what friends are for,” Sousuke answered. “Just call if you need anything,”

“Thanks,” Rin said before hanging up.

* * *

 

Makoto was devastated by the news. He wanted to cry, but found himself unable to do so. Nagisa had run away from home and nobody knew where he was, and now, on top of that, Haruka had most likely been kidnapped by someone. Kisumi had been no help at all, in fact he had been the one saying that it was way too likely that Haruka had been taken by the serial killer.

“Why is it all falling apart like this?” Makoto mumbled as he stared down at his hands, lying useless in his lap. He wanted to do something, anything, but he was unable to do so. He didn’t know where either of his missing children were.

“M-Makoto,” Kisumi tried to comfort Makoto by awkwardly placing a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Things will be okay,” he said. “We’ll do everything we can,”

“What can we do?” Makoto asked, seriously doubting there would be an answer to the question.

“Clear our heads and think?” Kisumi suggested.

“How’s that gonna help anyone?” Makoto asked. He felt an unfamiliar irritation inside of him. It was raging, almost like fire. Right now, he somehow just wished Kisumi would leave him alone.

A knock was heard on the door, it kept repeating itself. Why would someone come here at this time of day? There was no point, everything was going to hell.

Rin went to open the door and Makoto heard a surprised sound and then, shortly after, footsteps. Two people entered the room. Makoto decided to look up and greet the second one. He was surprised when he saw two pairs of crimson eyes staring at him. One was clearly Rin’s, and he also recognized the other pair. It belonged to Matsuoka Gou.

“Gou?” Makoto said, surprised.

“Makoto-san,” Gou said. Then tears started falling down her face. “I’m sorry!” she exclaimed.

“Where’s Nagisa?” Kisumi asked as Rin wrapped a comforting arm around Gou’s shoulders.

“He…” Gou struggled to get her sobs under control. “He is in Osaka,” she said. “We ran out of money and could only buy one ticket back here, so Nagisa forced me to go home and stayed behind,”

Makoto stood. He swayed a bit. He didn’t know what for. “I’m going,” he said.

Kisumi shook his head and pushed his friend back down. “No, Makoto,” he said. “You’re staying here,” he sat down next to Makoto and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. “I’ll go,” he said.

“No,” Rin said as he pulled out his phone. “There’s no need for anyone to go anywhere,” he started dialing a number as he let go of his younger sister and payed full attention to his phone.

“What?” Makoto exclaimed.

“Have you forgotten?” Rin asked. “Rei is in Osaka, so I’m going to give him a wake-up call and make him take responsibility for the mess he has helped making,” He hit the little green ‘call’ bottom and lifted the phone to his ear. If Rei was smart, he would answer within five seconds, otherwise, he would have quite an earful to listen to before Rin would get to the point.


	28. Reunion

Four seconds after Rin had dialed Rei’s number, the older boy picked up in the other end. He said nothing to answer at first, but Rin knew he had picked up.

“Rei,” he said in a demanding tone.

“What do you want?” Rei asked. “I’m busy,”

“It’s Nagisa,” Rin said.

Rei sighed heavily. “If you have called to talk about the same stuff as Haruka did, I am not planning on listening. Please, you are taking up my precious time,”

Rin’s grip tightened around the phone. “You are taking up my precious patience!” he yelled. “Our family is falling apart, if that’s not worth your precious time then I don’t know what is?!”

“What exactly do you mean, falling apart?” Rei asked, sounding irritated.

“Oh, I don’t know,” sarcasm mixed with heavy irritation could be heard as Rin spoke. He decided to leave to his room to spare his family members for his words. “Maybe I mean that Nagisa has run away because of a project in history, Haru has been kidnapped by a serial killer, Makoto has no clue of what to do, and now Gou just came back and told us that Nagisa is in Osaka with no money and nowhere to go,” Rin said.

“What do you want me to do?” Rei asked, not sounding like he wanted to do anything about it.

“Looking at how the situation is here, Makoto can’t really go anywhere. What do you think we want you to do? Take some responsibility!”

“Rin, yelling is not appropriate,” Rei said.

“I won’t stop yelling until you have gone and found Nagisa and made sure he is safe,” Rin continued yelling.

“Why? He got lost out here,” Rei said.

“Because it’s your fault, you’re the only one who can do it anyway. You are at the right place at the right time. And I’m pretty sure, despite everything that has happened, you’re still the one he wants to see the most,” As Rin spoke, he felt himself calm down a little bit. He hoped Rei would understand and do something. If not, he had no clue of what to do.

Rei sighed. “I don’t guarantee success,” he said. “But I might as well try,”

“Thank you,” Rin answered. “Please come home as soon as you can. I think we need you here,” the level of his voice had decreased to almost a whisper by the last sentence, but Rei heard it anyway.

“We will,” he said. Then he hung up.

* * *

 

The convenience store was open. Inside there were parents buying food to prepare for their hungry family. Nagisa could see them walking around. It was just too bad he had eaten his bento almost as soon as Gou left, and that was four hours ago by now.

He was sitting on a bench. He didn’t know where he was by now, except that it was somewhere in the center of Osaka. He had passed a park a while ago, but he hadn’t stopped there. It had reminded him of three years ago when he, Rin, Haruka and Rei had all gone to the park on his request. Rei had bought him ice cream and Haruka had been disappointed because there was no lake to swim in. The memory was nice, it was therefore Nagisa didn’t want to remember it. It made him slightly upset that those days won’t come again.

Nagisa shook his head. He had to stop thinking of that stupid park and go somewhere else. Staying in front of that convenience store and watching people buy food only made him hungrier than he already was. Besides, he had the feeling something bad would happen if he stayed in the same spot for too long. It was better to move on.

So Nagisa walked. He walked and sat somewhere else for a short while, and then he got up and walked again. This continued the next many hours until the sun set and the sky became black. The only thing that lit Nagisa’s path was the neon signs from the shops around him.

Suddenly, out of the blue, Nagisa felt a hand on his shoulder. A tall, tall man stood behind him. Nagisa couldn’t see his face clearly.

“Need help, kid?” the man asked.

“N-No,” Nagisa stuttered. “I’m fine,” He turned around and hurried down the street, walking a tiny bit quicker than before.

He turned a corner and bumped into a soft hoodie. He looked up to see two men standing in front of him. Both were wearing hoodies and both were smoking something. Nagisa was only sure it wasn’t cigarettes.

“Who do you think you are?” One grabbed Nagisa’s collar and lifted him up as his feet barely touched the ground. “Who do you think you are, bumping into me like that?” the guy who had bumped into him yelled in his face. His breath smelled like alcohol.

“I’m sorry!” Nagisa exclaimed.

“Like hell you’re sorry, what a brat!” he said. “I’ll teach you a lesson!” He pulled back his fist and prepared to punch Nagisa in the stomach when a loud yell was heard.

“Hey you! What are you doing?” The voice came from somewhere behind Nagisa.

“Oh shit,” the guy mumbled before he spoke to Nagisa. “Seems you got lucky,” he said before letting go of the smaller boy and running off with his companion. Nagisa landed on his knees and before he could collect himself enough to get up, someone stood in front of him.

“You okay, kid?” It was a police officer. He looked rather young. He had most likely only just finished education.

“I’m okay,” Nagisa said and allowed the officer to help him on his feet. “Thanks for that,” he said.

“No trouble,” the young officer said.

“Hey, Nakamura!” an elder officer appeared behind the young one. “What have you found?”

“This boy,” Nakamura said. “I doubt he has any criminal record so I was just intending to let him go,”

Nagisa nodded. “Yes,” he said on instinct. “I have to hurry home,”

The older officer looked suspecting at him. “What’s your name?” he asked.

Nagisa shook his head. “Can’t I please just go home?” he asked.

“Nakamura, check the description,” the officer barked and Nakamura started looking at a folded paper.

“Blonde hair, short, magenta eyes, accompanied by a girl with crimson hair,” he said. “Sir, do you think it’s him?” he asked while looking at his superior.

“Most likely,” the officer said. “Come with us, kid,”

“But I-“ Nagisa tried to protest but the officer lifted a hand.

“Follow us,” he said before he grabbed Nagisa’s wrist and started dragging him somewhere. Nagisa almost started panicking. Getting caught by the police wasn’t exactly something he had planned.

“Nagisa!” The familiar voice came from somewhere behind Nagisa. He turned his head to see a tall guy with blue hair and glasses come running towards him. He recognized him easily. It could only be one person. He felt the tears well up in his eyes as he pulled himself free from the officer’s grip and ran to the person who meant the most to him.

“Rei-chan!” he exclaimed.

They reached each other and Rei pulled Nagisa into a soft hug, feeling relief wash over him. He was glad that Nagisa would recognize him.

“You know this boy?” the officer said.

“His name is Hazuki Nagisa,” Rei said. “He is my adoptive brother, he got lost out here,” he said “You don’t have to worry. I’ll take him home,”

“We have a report that a boy who supposedly looks like him appeared at a post office near the central station earlier today, accompanied by a girl with maroon hair and crimson eyes,” the older officer said. “Do you have any idea of what that’s about?”

“No,” Rei said, “But it probably wasn’t him,” he said. “Now if you’ll excuse me,” he grabbed Nagisa’s wrist and dragged him away from the place. They walked in silence until they reached a hotel and stopped outside.

“I have a room with two beds,” Rei said. “We’ll share that for the night and then we’ll go home tomorrow morning,” he said. “Let’s fix our problems before we get back,”

Nagisa nodded. “Okay, Rei-chan,” he said with a happy smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah! I was just about to forget to publish! I'm so glad I remembered and it's so stupid because I have had no excuse to forget it at all! I've just been bored all day, really.  
> Anyway thanks for being patient and wait for me. I'll see you next time
> 
> Jackie


	29. Clearing

It had become a little late by now. It was around midnight and both Rei and Nagisa had gone to bed long ago, yet Rei couldn’t seem to fall asleep. He was lying awake and thinking about everything he had done wrong in this case.

He clearly recalled the phone call he had had with Haruka. He remembered what the other had said, almost word by word. Nagisa had taken a job, fallen behind in math and now a matter with history had come across. He would have to ask Nagisa exactly what had happened with those subjects at school, but the whole thing didn’t seem to be going well in general.

But Rei had to admit that he had been in the wrong too. It was as Rin said that he was at fault at this too. Thinking back, he couldn’t remember the last time he had actually payed full attention to Nagisa. He couldn’t remember the last time the two of them had been together and had that sensation of a strong friendship between them. It was disturbing, even more than he would let on.

It didn’t help much that they had had a fight less than one week ago. In contrast to Rin and Haruka, who fought on a regular basis, Nagisa and Rei had never had a serious argument like that one this Sunday. Rei had been angry because he had come to feel a slight hint of the worry he almost never felt anymore. This had caused him to act out as soon as Nagisa came home, and when he learned Nagisa had been spying on him and talked back to him, he got anger to add to all his emotions. It had done nothing but worsen the situation.

He wished he had had the courage and opportunity to speak to Nagisa about this before they went to bed, but Nagisa had been tired, and Rei had been too busy getting him to bed to think about talking about it, and besides, he didn’t have the courage.

It was three hours ago since Rei had found Nagisa out on the street with the police, and after giving them the quick, unsatisfying explanation he had taken Nagisa right to this hotel. He was glad that Sera-senpai was kinda rich and had booked a room with two beds just for Rei. Sera-senpai also had a room with two beds, things had to be even.

After forcing Nagisa in a quick shower, he gave off a scent of not having washed for days, Rei had forced the younger to bed, and then laid down himself. That was two and half an hour ago. Now, Nagisa was asleep and Rei couldn’t seem to do the same.

He sighed, and turned in his bed as he was facing Nagisa’s sleeping form.

“You awake, Rei-chan?” Nagisa asked. He turned to look at Rei. The blanket pulled all the way up to his chin, only making the smile in his eyes a little more obvious.

“Yeah,” Rei said. “I can’t seem to sleep,”

“I could,” Nagisa said. “But only until about half an hour ago,”

Rei decided that now was just as good a time as any other and he decided to talk about everything that had gone wrong between them, to maybe get things cleared.

“You’re forgiving way too easily,” he said.

“Huh?” Nagisa asked, slightly confused. “What do you mean, Rei-chan?”

Rei sighed. “You seem to have already forgotten what caused all this to happen. I just caught myself wondering, if I had acted differently, noticed the signs that something was off, would things have ended differently?”

“Oh…” Nagisa let the sound escape, proving that he had now understood. “You shouldn’t blame yourself about this, Rei-chan. It is not entirely your fault that it ended up like this. It is mine too. If you had acted differently, some things could have been prevented, but I would probably still end up here in Osaka one way or another,”

“I should’ve been there with that history project,” Rei said.

Nagisa shrugged. “It’s almost covered,” he said. “Besides, Gou-chan helped me a lot,”

“It’s not right though,” Rei said. “Also with math, I should have been there,”

“It’s fine though,” Nagisa said.

“Haruka said you were kicked out of math class,” Rei said.

“And forbidden to come back before I had learned to behave,” Nagisa chuckled at the thought. “I think both Sensei and I misunderstood each other. It’s not your fault either,”

“Well, it won’t have happened if I had helped you out,” Rei said, slightly annoyed.

Nagisa couldn’t comment on that. The truth was that Rei was right. There was no reason in denying that fact. He decided that the subject needed to be changed. “Besides, I should have told you that I had gotten myself a job, and I shouldn’t have spied on you and your senpai,” he said.

Rei smiled at this too. “That’s true as well. But I highly doubt I would have listened if you had told about your job. But why didn’t you tell Makoto or one of the others?” he asked.

“The day when I got the job, Rin-chan spend all dinner talking about a new technique or something and he was in such a good mood I won’t interrupt. I like when Rin-chan and Haru-chan are happy,” Nagisa explained.

“So you didn’t tell anyone until you told me?” Rei asked.

“Actually… I spoke to Haru-chan about everything on the night before he and Rin-chan left,” Nagisa answered. “He is really good at listening,”

Rei smiled. “I can imagine that,” he said. Then he remembered what Rin had said over the phone, about Haruka and what had happened to him. He would have to tell Nagisa about this too, at some point, but not now. He decided to change the subject again.

“How did it go with digging up on your family?” he asked. “I can imagine that’s what you’ve been up to,”

Nagisa nodded, though Rei had trouble seeing that in the darkness, and because his glasses were off. “Gou-chan and I went to our orphanage and found out that my family had been involved in an accident. From a hospital we got the information that they were all dead and if we wanted more information we had to go to Osaka, so we went and visited a woman here and she explained the accident, by the way, did you know your biological mother was in the car that crashed into my parents’ car?” Nagisa asked.

Rei shook his head. “I heard from Sera-senpai that my family was from Osaka, I have had no time to dig up anything about them yet,”

“I know what’s worth knowing, you don’t have to,” Nagisa said with a bright smile.

“So?” Rei asked, kinda curious. “What’s worth knowing?”

“Your father was abusive and killed your older brother, devastated by this, your mother left the next day and crashed into my family’s car in Tottori-shi. They think she was drunk while driving and that’s what caused the accident to happen. Your father went to jail and you were brought to Iwatobi,”

“And then we met,” Rei smiled at that. “That is a little odd, one would call it fate,”

Nagisa shrugged. “Just like it was fate that I was put in the same class as Rin-chan’s and Haru-chan’s sister. I hope Gou-chan is okay, do you think she is?”

Rei nodded. “She should be home by now,” he said. “But I’m not sure how she is mentally at the moment,”

“What do you mean?” Nagisa asked.

Rei sat up. “I got a call from Rin a few hours before I found you. He said… He said that Haruka has been kidnapped,”

Nagisa sat up too. “Haru-chan has been… kidnapped?” he asked in surprise. Rei needed neither light, nor glasses, to know that there were tears in the younger’s eyes.

“Yes, I know nothing else, but we are going right back home tomorrow to help out all we can, and if we have nothing to do, we will at least put Makoto at ease,” Rei said.

Nagisa nodded. “Mako-chan’s gotta be worried,” he mumbled while pulling the blanket closer to his chest. “But Rei-chan, I have no money on me,”

Rei nodded. “I know that. I have enough to cover for the both of us, just for the trip from here to Tokyo,” he said.

“Rei-chan is… the best!” Nagisa said, interrupted by a yawn.

“Go back to sleep, Nagisa,” Rei said kindly.

Nagisa hesitated. “I’m not sure I can,” he said.

Rei could’ve slapped himself. He knew he should’ve waited until tomorrow before telling Nagisa about Haruka. But now it couldn’t be helped. “What do you think will help?” he asked.

Nagisa gave the matter some thought. “Could we do as when we were little and I had a bad dream? Cuddle up and that?” he asked.

Rei hesitated. He was 20 and Nagisa was almost 17. It wasn’t very appropriate for two, almost grown men, to sleep together like that. Despite those reasons, he had a lot of trouble denying the request and finally gave up.

“Fine,” he said and moved a bit to make room for Nagisa. “Come over,”

Nagisa smiled and hurried over to Rei’s bed, before the other had the chance to change his mind. He lied down and Rei lied down beside him. Before either of them knew it, they had both fallen asleep, all cuddled up, just like when they were little.


	30. Darkness

Haruka’s head hurt. This was the first thing he noticed when he regained consciousness. The last thing he remembered was walking home with Nanami in the afternoon after school. She had turned around towards him and a scared expression had appeared on her face. Then he felt pain in his head as everything went black. That was the last thing he remembered.

He found himself wondering if Nanami was okay. He wondered if his attacker had kidnapped her too. He was pretty sure he had gotten kidnapped. The darkness around him and the fact that he had been knocked out pointed towards this fact. It was too serious to be a prank.

Haruka wondered if he could move. He couldn’t see a thing around him. Maybe there was a chance he could find a way out of here. He just had to move around and find the exit, if there was any.

He tried moving his hands and push off from the wooden floor he was sitting on, but that was impossible. His hands were tied behind his back. He could even feel that he was tied to something as he tried pulling his hands closer to him. It didn’t work. Whatever it was, it didn’t give in. He couldn’t see what it was.

Haruka gave up quickly. If escape was impossible to begin with, there was no reason to waste his strength on useless effort.

As he sat still, he could hear the sound of heavy traffic from outside and he could hear people talking, and someone yelling something. From this he determined he was in a big city, but it was too quiet to be at daytime. It had to be at night, at least if he was still in Tokyo. He hoped he was.

“It seems you’re awake now,” a voice said from somewhere in the room. This voice slightly surprised Haruka. He had thought he was alone, but he didn’t let it on. That would mean this guy had gained an extra point, a benefit. He won’t let that happen. It was a good thing he could control his emotion so well.

He listened as the other person in the room started moving around. Judging from the sound, he was sitting in a chair.

“You know, I have been waiting for you to wake up, it’s surprisingly boring with you just passed out like that,” the voice continued.

Haruka’s eyes were starting to adjust to the darkness around him. He still couldn’t see the man, not even his silhouette. It was hidden by the deep shadows in one of the corners, but he could see there was a table not too far away. He could see the corner of it. He could see that there was a black curtain covering a window. Only a tiny bit of light was slipping by. This was what made him able to make out some of the furniture in the room. He could see that whatever kept him was attached to something in the wall. It was most likely a wall or something. It wasn’t far from him.

“Where is Nanami?” Haruka asked.

“The little girl?” the man asked. Yes, from the voice it was obvious his kidnapper was male. “I left her where I took you. I had to shut her up though. I’m sure she has been found by now. You have no need to worry about her, I have no interest in her,”

“Why am I interesting?” Haruka asked.

He could hear the man move. His feet came into the light as he placed them on the table, taking a relaxed pose. “I don’t think it’s time for me to reveal that yet. I’d much rather tell you how I found you. Won’t you want to know that?” he asked.

Haruka shrugged. Maybe he did, but he figured the identity of this guy was more important.

“What’s your name?” he asked.

“You can call me Taichi,” the voice said. “I’ve planned to do this for some time. Actually I planned this for about 17 years,”

Haruka started thinking about who could have planned something like this for so long.

“I learned that you were in Tokyo from a magazine and a friend of mine who happens to work in the police. I recognized you on the front cover of the lame model magazine and therefore I bought it last week. My friend told me that he had seen you in connection to a case with serial killer that ended a little over two years ago,”

Haruka remembered all that. The kidnapper’s friend had probably been part of the police that had been tailing Rin through Shinjuku that day.

“Ironically enough, we are in Shinjuku right now,” the guy said.

So they were in Tokyo. To Haruka’s own surprise, he felt relieved. It put him at a bit of ease to know that he wasn’t too far from home. It would have been really bad if he had been in another town, or even on another island like Okinawa, or even worse, Hokkaido.

“I copied the serial killer’s moves to get your attention. I was sure you would come running to me and try to stop me, but I lost patience and got tired of killing, so I just took action,” he explained.

Haruka could almost sense the smile on his face. He could feel the insanity in the room. It almost made him feel sick to his stomach. This guy had killed innocent people for no reason other than to get attention. How sick could he possibly be?

He was kinda grateful Rin wasn’t here. He would have just busted out with that last question, but Haruka was thinking a lot more before he spoke and therefore knew it probably won’t be a smart move to pull in this situation. The more he got to know, the more dangerous it seemed.

“Why are you keeping me here?” Haruka asked. “And what about Rin?” he asked.

The man chuckled. “I plan to get Rin too,” he said as he removed his feet from the desk and put them back on the ground. He prepared to get off the chair it seemed. “Keeping you here might make me able to draw him here eventually. I plan on taking contact to him soon,”

Haruka wondered how he intended to do that. He didn’t have any contact info of Rin, and Rin was clever enough to not just let a stranger take contact to him out of nowhere. That much Haruka knew.

“Oh yeah,” The man said as if reading Haruka’s thoughts. He had walked to another dark part of the room while Haruka had spent time feeling relieved. “You don’t mind that I borrow your phone for that purpose, do you?” he asked.

Haruka could then hear the sound of an object being caught in a hand. He didn’t need to think hard to determine it was his own cellphone.

“He is clever enough not to show up,” Haruka said in an attempt to try and get him off that idea.

The man pressed down the handle of the door. “Maybe, but if you were in any danger, I’m sure he would come running. He is an older brother after all. It lies within his genetics,” With that, the guy opened the door and let himself out. Haruka could hear the sound of the door being locked afterwards, and he was left in complete darkness, only with the sound of Tokyo’s nightlife as company.


	31. Identity

Saturday morning had come, also to the Tachibana family in their state of worry. The time was a little past 8 and Makoto was sitting in bed. Although he had made a serious attempt to sleep, the worry he felt had done all it could to keep him awake, and succeeded.

He had gotten a call from a worn out Rei a little over half an hour ago. The 20 years-old had informed that he and Nagisa were on their way to the train station in Osaka. They would be home in approximately three hours from that point. Makoto had asked if they were both okay and Rei had said they would probably be once Nagisa got over being grumpy from being dragged out of bed at such an early hour. Makoto had managed to crack a smile at that and told them to be safe.

It hadn’t been the worst of Makoto’s worries though. His biggest concern had been Haruka. He wondered what had happened to him. He wondered where he was and if he was even still alive. He had spoken to Miyano-san on the phone late last night. She said there was a high risk that Haruka had been taken by the serial killer that had been around in the area lately.

A knock was heard on Makoto’s bedroom door and Kisumi entered without awaiting an answer. He never did, so Makoto had expected it.

“You didn’t sleep again,” Kisumi said in a concerned tone.

“No,” Makoto said. “Too much on my mind,” he attempted a smile.

Kisumi responded on the smile. “You are worried about Haru, aren’t you?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Makoto turned and placed his feet on the floor.

“You have no reason,” Kisumi said. “I may not know what he is thinking most of the time, but I know he has a strong loyalty towards you. He will even escape dangerous situation just to come home to you,”

“Do you know that?” Makoto asked.

“I have never seen it, but it easy to read from most of his actions and from the look he gives you when you’re not having that strange communicating thing through your eyes,” Kisumi laughed a bit at the reference to Makoto’s and Haruka’s preferred way of communication.

Makoto nodded.

“Who knows, maybe you should call him to check how far he is on his way home by now,” Another laugh escaped Kisumi at his own joke. “I’ll go make some breakfast in the meantime. You just show up when you feel like it,” the joking smile had turned back to a kind and concerned one.

“Thanks, Kisumi,” Makoto said.

Kisumi just nodded and turned to leave Makoto alone. He closed the door behind him, and Makoto was again left alone to his own thoughts.

It hit him, that maybe Kisumi wasn’t that far off. It wasn’t like Makoto was taking the joke seriously. He knew it was a joke. Kisumi had made it obvious in his facial expression. But maybe it was worth calling Haruka’s phone to see if it connected, and who would pick up if it did.

Makoto found his own phone and dialed Haruka’s number. He then pressed the phone to his ear and prayed that someone would answer in the other end.

He was lucky. There was only that beeping sound three times before someone picked up in the other end. There was no answer, but Makoto was used to that. It was rare for Haruka to start a conversation on the phone, regardless of who was calling who.

“Hello? Haru?” Makoto asked while hoping that it would be Haruka’s voice in the other end.

“Who might this be?” an unfamiliar voice answered in the other end. It sounded a bit unclear but Makoto couldn’t put his finger on what the other was doing to make it sound like this.

“Eh… My name is Tachibana Makoto, I’m Haru’s adoptive father,” Makoto answered. “Do you have him nearby by any chance?”

“Ah yes,” the voice answered. “He is in the next room in fact,”

“Can I speak to him?” Makoto asked.

“I’m afraid that’s not one of your privileges anymore,” the man said. “The only ones I will allow to speak to him are myself and his biological brother,”

“Who are you?” Makoto asked, feeling like he was in his right to ask this question.

“My name is Taichi, that’s at least what I told him,” the other answered.

Makoto nodded. He was silent for a bit while thinking about what else he would need to ask. The other voice was quicker than him though.

“Could you not call this number again?” Taichi asked. “See it is rather inconvenient seeing as I plan on keeping him with me for a very long time,”

“Wh…” Makoto hesitated as he put his question together before asking it. “What will happen if I call this number again?” he asked.

“You care about both Haruka and his brother, don’t you?” the other asked. “Let’s just say that neither of them will be pleased if you do, of course I will let it slide for this time,”

Makoto nodded. “I understand,” he said. He could hear the other preparing to hang up on the other end and it was then that he remembered one of the most important questions to ask. “Is Haru still alive?” he asked.

The other put the phone back to his ear. “Yes, he is alive and well for now,”

“Please tell me you don’t plan on killing him or anything,” Makoto said.

The other almost laughed. Makoto could hear that he had trouble keeping it in. “I will assure you, that’s not in my interest at all,”

Makoto let out a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness,” he said.

“If that’s all, we’re done talking,” the other said and then hung up.

Makoto removed the phone from his ear and looked at the display. It showed Haruka’s name and the minutes he had been on the phone with the kidnapper. He had got no information about where Haruka was, but at least he knew that he was still okay and wouldn’t die, at least that was what the man said, but could he be trusted?

For the first time in his life, Makoto found himself doubting someone and asking himself if they could be trusted. If Kisumi knew of this, he would probably ask what had gone wrong overnight. Makoto couldn’t count the times when he had been used for anything from doing assignments to a good laugh because of his own naivety.

But who was this guy to take Haruka away in the first place, and declare that none other than he and Rin could talk to him. Why Rin anyway? The guy seemed to know that Rin and Haruka were biologically related. Was he related to them too? But as far as Makoto knew they only had a mother, a sister and a father who were still alive. Hold on, he might just have figured out the relation between Rin, Haruka and the kidnapper.

* * *

 

Haruka had been sitting in his dark room while listening to Taichi’s conversation on the phone. He couldn’t guess whom it was speaking to him, but they were asking for him, and their name weren’t Rin that was for sure.

Shortly after Taichi had hung up, Haruka could hear the key in the door and it was opened. Taichi stepped in, but Haruka still couldn’t make out his face, even if the room outside was illuminated in daylight. It had to be morning by now.

“I was on the phone with your adoptive father,” Taichi said. “What was his name again? Tachibana… something…” he said.

“Makoto,” Haruka said coldly.

“Yeah, I told him what had happened and then he said he didn’t care and would leave you to me,” Taichi smiled it seemed. That was what his voice indicated.

Haruka frowned. “You basically told him that if he called, you would hurt me and Rin,” he said, not even thrown off a tiny bit.

“Yeah, fine, maybe that’s the case,” Taichi said.

“Who are you even to say that he may not speak to me?” Haruka asked irritated.

“Me?” Taichi said. Then he sighed. “I suppose it is time to reveal it, isn’t it?” He stepped away from the still open door and knelt down in front of Haruka. He grabbed his chin and turned their faces. “Look into my eyes, you might just be able to recognize them,” he said in a teasing tone.

Haruka did so. The daylight was reflexing in the man’s eyes. A hint of white could be seen, so could the dark of his iris and pupil. But as Haruka’s eyes adjusted to the light from the door, he could see the difference in the iris and pupil become clearer. As he recognized it, he quickly pulled back with a surprised expression.

“I’m glad you recognize me” the man said. “Just so we are clear, the name is Nanase Taichi and I’m your biological father,”

Haruka didn’t doubt this fact as he looked up into the man’s clear blue eyes, the eyes he saw in the mirror and in the water’s reflection whenever he cared to look. The only difference was that unlike his own calm ones, these blue eyes were glistering with a slight hint of insanity.


	32. Contact

Rin cursed himself, over and over. He was pacing the floor in the room he shared with Haruka while doing so. He hadn’t slept much that night, and what little sleep he had got had been full of nightmares. They were mostly about the past, him running through the streets of Shinjuku in search for Haruka, and then turning the corner to find him. The first time he was dead, the second time he was badly injured. Then Rin had been stabbed in the back by an unknown force and awoke.

However, he had had another dream. He wasn’t sure it was really a dream. It was just a series of colors, red, green, yellow, purple, navy, pink, black. They had ended with an unclear picture, of someone with blue eyes, the face wasn’t clear, only the eyes, so Rin couldn’t point out exactly who it was, but the eyes reminded him of Haruka’s. Meanwhile he had this strange dream, he heard his mother’s voice as she explained to him and Haruka, what their father had done back when they were still only babies.

At around 4 in the morning, Rin had gotten tired of waking up in cold sweat and got up to pace the floor and pass the time. He had turned on his laptop and read on the internet to find some news about either that serial killer or missing people in the past. Maybe that would give him a clue of something, but nothing had turned up. The last one who had gone missing was a 101 year old woman who was demented. At the bottom of the page, it did say she had turned up again the day after the article was written.

Now Rin was back to pacing the floor. He heard someone knock on someone’s door. Knowing that it wasn’t his door, nor was it him knocking, he could figure it was Kisumi and Makoto who were interacting. Shortly after the door opened without a response, and this assured Rin that it was Kisumi knocking on the door to Makoto’s room.

It didn’t take long before Kisumi came back out and went to knock on Rin’s door. Rin opened before the purple-eyed male got the chance.

“What is it?” he asked.

“You’re already up,” Kisumi smiled.

“Been for a while,” Rin answered.

Kisumi got a concentrated expression as he studied Rin’s face. “You didn’t sleep much I see,” he just said with a soft smile. “Maybe you should stop thinking so much of Haru?” he suggested.

Rin found himself getting irritated. “That’s a little difficult when he is all I seem to be able to dream about!” he exclaimed.

“Relax, I was just trying to be nice,” Kisumi attempted to defend himself.

“Wrong time,” Rin answered.

Kisumi nodded. “Sorry,” he said. “I’ll go prepare some breakfast. Do anything you want, but please leave Makoto be until Nagisa and Rei come home,” he said.

Rin nodded. There was no need to disturb Makoto. He didn’t need to see the man to know he hadn’t slept much either, if he had even slept. Somehow Rin doubted that fact.

Kisumi shut the door and went to the kitchen. Rin went to pick up his phone for no particular reason. He was just simply bored. He had searched the internet. He had even gone as far as playing some boring game on there. He couldn’t come up with anything else to do.

He turned on the display and smiled slightly as a text from Sousuke was revealed on it. He typed his password and opened the message.

 

From: Sousuke

Subject: None

Are you okay? Remember, you can come to me with whatever.

 

Rin smiled. He knew that. Last year, he and Sousuke had been attempting to solve that case with the serial killer. They had had a lot of fun while doing so, or so Rin had thought. It had also come in need when they ended up getting involved with the serial killer. If he hadn’t taken the time to figure out a pattern, he would have maybe not rushed to Shinjuku to find Haruka and save him. Or maybe he would have done it anyway. Haruka would have done it, and he never tended to let his emotions run away with him like Rin did.

Rin decided to text Sousuke back, just to let him know he had understood and that he would contact him if needed.

 

From Rin

Subject: None

Thanks, Sousuke. I’m alright but I’ll remember the offer.

 

Rin sent it.

He sat with his phone in hand. He was thinking, first about what he wanted to say to Sousuke, what he would need to say, if he would ever be in need of saying anything. Then he thought of what to look for. Haruka couldn’t turn up on his own when being kidnapped. It wasn’t like Rin didn’t have faith in him, but he was sure, for someone to take Haruka by surprise, they had to be pretty smart. Who could even kidnap Haruka like this?

Suddenly bits and pieces of the dreams Rin had had last night, returned to his mind, the running in Shinjuku, the story, the strange picture of blue eyes and ever changing colors. What was all of this supposed to mean anyway? Did it mean anything or was Rin just trying to have it make sense? Could be both, could also be none or one of them. Why did he even have to think so much in the first place? Rin’s head was starting to hurt from all this thinking.

Suddenly it was all interrupted by his phone vibrating. It was a text message. It couldn’t be from Sousuke. He would not respond unless it was something that craved an answer. Rin’s message didn’t crave an answer.

Rin looked at the display and nearly dropped the phone when he saw the ID of the sender. He opened the message and started reading, in shock as his eyes scanned every word.

 

From: Haru

Subject: Hey There

Hey Rin

I am the one being with Haruka. I have a question. Do you want to know how he is?

 

Rin had to read the text another time to be sure that he had understood it correctly. Did he want to know how Haruka was? He had a feeling the information wasn’t going to be released for free. He wondered what the price was.

 

From: Rin

Subject: Hello There

You’re asking stupid questions. Let me ask you two. 1: Who are you, 2: what’s the prize?

 

The guy wasn’t late to respond. It only took a matter of seconds.

 

From: Haru

Subject: Hello There.

1: don’t speak to me in that tone. Haruka won’t like it. 2: If you get over here, I will answer your first question too.

 

Rin threw his phone on the bed in frustration.


	33. Thoughtful

Rin and Makoto happened to decide to exit their rooms in the same time. Their eyes met across the hallway and Makoto smiled brightly. Rin, however, could tell that his smile was just a cover-up for something else. Makoto was clearly thinking about something. Because of this, Rin decided to put on the same attitude, flashing a bright smile in response.

“I figured you would stay in your room from what Kisumi said,” Rin commented on seeing Makoto.

“Yeah, it might have been wiser, but I don’t really like sitting still in situations like these,” Makoto said. “I feel uneasy and useless,”

“Despite that, you manage to give off a calm sense,” Rin answered in a slightly envious tone. Makoto really did seem relaxed, it was also affecting Rin, calming him a bit as well. It was easier to fake the smile he was putting on because of this.

“I have always believed that I would cause others less trouble if I pretended to be okay,” Makoto admitted.

Rin smiled. “Sometimes you cause less worry if you actually say what’s on your mind,” he said.

Makoto laughed. “Kisumi told me that in high school too,”

“And I long since stopped trying!” Kisumi yelled from the kitchen. Apparently he had listened in on the conversation. “Do you know anything of our troublesome duo in Osaka?” he continued.

Makoto chuckled well aware of whom Kisumi was referring to. “They left at 6:30, they should be here around 10 or so,”

“I see. Do we have to make breakfast for them too?” Kisumi asked.

“I’ll text and ask,” Makoto said.

“Did you call Haru?” Kisumi asked as if suddenly remembering something.

“I did,” Makoto said. He made his way to the kitchen while texting Rei. Rin followed, wondering what results Makoto had come up with. Had he spoken to Haru? Did he have a clue of anything, did he know that the guy had texted Rin?

“How far was he?” Kisumi asked. It looked like he was in the middle of frying eggs and boiling rice.

Makoto sat down by the table and continued texting. “I don’t know,” he said. “It was the kidnapper who picked up,”

“What did he say?” Rin asked, attempting to take a great interest in the conversation. In reality he was only asking because he was worried about what Makoto knew. Something told him that it was better if Makoto didn’t know of the contact the kidnapper had taken to him.

“Nothing much, apparently I’m not allowed to speak to Haru,” he said.

“That’s some asshole,” Kisumi answered. “Did you get a name or something?” he asked then while being careful not to burn the food. Rin started taking out plates and chopsticks.

“Taichi,” Makoto said, “But I’m almost certain that even this is a fake name. When committing a crime like this, nobody would be stupid enough to give up their own name just like that,”

“What?” Kisumi stopped cooking and turned to look at Makoto in disbelief. “What happened to believing in everyone you came across despite everything?”

Makoto smiled. “I figured you’d say that,” he answered. He finished texting and placed the phone on the table. “But every aspect of logic tells me he has every reason to lie to me. He would only tell me the truth if it wasn’t an important detail,”

“Did he tell you any truths?” Kisumi asked while returning to cooking. Rin was relieved at this, seeing as a scent of something getting a little too much heat was starting to spread throughout the kitchen. “Is Haru okay?”

“I think so,” Makoto said. “He says he isn’t planning to kill him either, hopefully that can be trusted,”

Rin had a gut feeling that Makoto was right. The kidnapper, Taichi, was practically using Haruka as a hostage. Unless you had more than one hostage to pick from, you couldn’t just kill off a hostage like that.

“At least that’s good,” Kisumi answered. “Hopefully we can believe it. By the way, do you think Rei and Nagisa will be able to help us out once they return?” he asked. He then stepped back from the cooker and went to serve the food. Rin sat down while he did so.

“No one can tell,” Makoto said. “They are both unpredictable, especially Nagisa, but at least they will put me at ease. This reminds me that I might want to go and speak to Matsuoka-san tomorrow,”

“Why not today?” Rin asked as he started digging in.

“Gou just returned from her trip yesterday. Matsuoka-san needs time to recover from the shock of her leaving home before we tell her about Haru,” Makoto said. “And she might also want to spend some time with Gou, so I want to give her that opportunity before paying her a visit,”

“And you need to recover from your lack of sleep,” Kisumi said. “You’re right, tomorrow might be for the better,” he smiled and also started digging in. “For now, just eat while the food is still hot,”

“Oi, Kisumi!” Rin exclaimed. “My egg is crispy!”

“So what?” Kisumi asked while chewing on his own, a little overdone egg. “I like them that way,”

Makoto laughed at this. Whenever someone screwed a little up when cooking, someone would always start bickering about it. It was normal, and it gave the atmosphere around the table a more normal and relaxed sense. It made his concerns about Haruka flow a bit in the background of his mind, just for a little while.

* * *

 

Haruka fell on his back from the hard blow to his stomach. He looked up at Taichi who was towering over him. He was way stronger than he appeared to be. It was almost terrifying. What was more, Haruka had just felt this strength on his own body. It had left him out of breath. He was still fighting to regain it.

“Trouble?” Taichi asked, faking the concern.

“What was that for?” Haruka asked, while attempting to sit up, however, he was stopped by Taichi’s foot being placed on his shoulder.

“Rin is not behaving nicely at all,” Taichi answered. “You’re lucky that he has only been impolite once, otherwise it would have been more than just a pathetic blow to the stomach,”

Haruka wondered how he could call a blow as hard as that “pathetic” In his own opinion it was anything but.

“Next time, you might not be so lucky, Haruka,” Taichi said. “And if you become unlucky enough we might see more than just a pained expression, such as blood, maybe even tears. I do wonder what your crying face looks like,”

Haruka just wanted him to shut up and leave him alone. This was really troubling him, he talked so much. Haruka had no interest in knowing what the guy intended to do to him anyway. It seemed more like he wanted to strike fear inside him.

“I also wonder what seeing your own blood will do to you and will I ever see you tremble in fear?” Taichi continued.

“Are you my father or a monster, I’m not sure,” Haruka said, purposely letting out the words on his mind, just to provoke the man in front of him.

“Are you doubting it?” Taichi smirked, obviously not provoked.

Haruka decided not to give an answer, since he didn’t see the need for it. He just stared up at the blue eyes, reminding him so much of his own.

Apparently this provoked Taichi more than the words had, because he suddenly frowned before he removed his foot from Haruka’s shoulder, only to kick him in the stomach.

“For your information, I will only give you water, no food, and nothing else to drink,” he said. “That is, until Rin gets here,” he turned on his heel and left the room, closing and locking the door behind him.

Haruka still couldn’t say he minded. All he did mind was that he now had to try and regain his breath once again. He wondered what this would do to his lungs in the future. How long could he hold his breath under the surface of the water if this kept up?


	34. Friendship

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rin is taught an important lesson

Although almost everyone took it for granted and never really noticed, and certainly never said anything, Aki was really good at detecting when something wasn’t right. This applied for friends and family alike. Even someone she only knew from class, she could tell if there was something wrong with them too.

So of course it went without saying that she noticed that something was off as soon as she arrived at school on Monday morning.

She had been running a bit late because she had forgotten to prepare her lunch last night and therefore needed to wrap up something before she could go. Of course, she still made it in due time for class, but she was later than usual, and therefore arrived just after Rin and Sousuke did. In fact, she walked right behind them into the school building.

Things were off though. The first thing was that Haruka wasn’t with them. She didn’t recall Rin and Haruka walking to school separately since 9th grade in middle school when the two of them clearly were on bad terms.

Another thing that was off was the way Rin and Sous

* * *

uke were walking together and speaking in hushed voices. Aki got a feeling they were trying to keep something hidden, and a hunch told her that whatever it was, it had something to do with Haruka not being there today.

She wondered if she should confront them about it, but decided to leave it be for now. She didn’t even greet them. If she wanted to speak to them about this matter, she could talk at lunch, right now it would probably be better to just observe.

* * *

 

Aki was not in the same class as the others, however, her class was one of the smallest classes of their year and therefore they had a lot of classes with the other small class of their year. In this class, Aiichirou just happened to be, and today, all their classes were together. Aki decided to confront the boy about what the matter was with Rin.

“Nitori-kun,” she asked at their art class.

“Ah, Yazaki-san! What is it?” Aiichirou turned to Aki with an exited smile.

“Do you know what is off with Matsuoka-kun, Nanase-kun and Yamasaki-kun?” Aki asked in a concerned way.

“No,” Aiichirou looked confused. “Why? Is something the matter with Rin-san?”

Aki was a bit hesitant. “I fear so. I saw him and Yamasaki-kun walk to school together without Nanase-kun this morning.

Aiichirou shrugged. “Maybe Nanase-san is just sick or something?” he asked.

“It could be but…” Aki trailed off. “They were also talking in really hushed voices, like they were trying to keep a secret or something. I’m just worried that something might really be wrong, just like three years ago when Matsuoka-kun and Nanase-kun had just started,” she explained.

Aiichirou nodded, a concerned look was now also appearing on his face as he spoke. “You might be right, Yazaki-san… Maybe we should ask Rin-san and Yamasaki-san about it at lunch break and find out,”

Aki nodded. “That’s what I was thinking. Thank you for siding with me, Nitori-kun,” she said.

“It’s not a problem, Yazaki-san,” Aiichirou answered while smiling. Aki smiled too.

* * *

So, at lunch break, Aki and Aiichirou exited their classroom together and went to try and find Rin and Sousuke and confront them about their worries. However, this wasn’t an easy task. The school was big and there were many students. Although Rin’s maroon hair was fairly easy to spot and Sousuke was taller than most, they weren’t that easy to find in the crowd.

It was only when Aki and Aiichirou started walking down a more deserted hallway that they noticed the pair. Aki started walking faster as soon as she saw them.

“Matsuoka-kun! Yamasaki-kun!” she called as both she and Aiichirou made their way up to the pair in a half-running pace.

Rin turned around and eyed the two. “Oh, Ai, Yazaki-san,” he said surprised. “What is it?” Both he and Sousuke had stopped and turned to look at them.

Aki and Aiichirou stopped too, and Aki spoke. “Matsuoka-kun, is something the matter?” she asked.

“What do you mean?” Rin asked.

“It just seems like something isn’t right,” Aki continued.

“What would that be?” Rin asked, a slightly irritated expression appeared on his face and Aki got the feeling that he just wanted her to leave him be.

“Where is Nanase-kun?” she asked directly.

“Not here,” Rin said while looking away. It clearly was a subject he wanted to avoid.

“Matsuoka-kun ple-,“ Aki was cut off as Sousuke stepped slightly in front of Rin and started speaking.

“Yazaki-san, leave him alone,” he demanded.

“Yamasaki-san, we’re just-,“ Aiichirou started, but Sousuke cut him off too.

“Same goes for you, Nitori,” he said. He turned to Rin. “Let’s go, Rin,” he said and the two of them started walking away from their friends.

This was when Aki had enough.

“Yamasaki! Matsuoka! Don’t you dare walk away from us!” she exclaimed. “I understand if you don’t want to answer our questions, I might understand if it seems like we are bugging you, but you have no right to just defy us as if you don’t even know us! We have been friends for three years now! After such a long time, I think it is very rude of you to not give us permission to worry about you!”

By this time, both Rin and Sousuke hand stopped and turned to face Aki. They were not used to be confronted with such impolite speech, and especially not from a girl like her. This just proved to them how angry she really was and actually caused Rin to want to tell them about the latest events.

“I thought we were more to you, that our friendship with you was at least something, but seeing as that’s not the case-“ She now cut herself off because she knew she was about to take things too far. With an angry expression she turned on her heel. “Let’s go, Nitori-kun,” she said.

“Y-yes!” Aiichirou exclaimed and was about to turn around as well when Rin called out to them.

“Yazaki-san, Ai!” he called. “You’re right, I’m sorry about the way I just acted. You know Haru too, so you deserve to know about this,” he said.

Aki and Aiichirou turned around again. Aki was still acting angrily, but Aiichirou was all smiles because Rin actually wanted to talk about this matter.

“So what is it?” Aki asked, coldly.

“I don’t want everyone to know, so if you don’t mind, we can go to the roof and talk,” Rin said before he started walking ahead, past Aiichirou and Aki, towards the direction of the roof. The two were quick to follow, and Sousuke walked right behind them as they went upstairs and sat with their lunches.

As they walked, Rin took out his phone and read the text message he had just received. He didn’t have to look at the content to know what it was about. All he had to look at, was the number it came from, and the subject. It had been the same since Saturday morning, though he hadn’t answered a single one since then.

* * *

 

Somewhere else, a man was getting fairly annoyed. He had send message after message and not gotten a single reply. Even if he didn’t really want to, he would have to face the fact that it was about time to use more drastic measures to get what he wanted. He had to hurry too, or someone might call the police and they would catch on to him.

At the moment, Haruka was sleeping. It seemed like he slept a lot lately. It was understandable. He had nothing else to do, and being without food for such a long time, would probably make you more tired. The kid was just lucky he still got something to drink.

Taichi stared at the display of the phone while hoping that she would never be informed of this, because if she were, she would have no trouble figuring him out and if she told Rin… that could ruin all his plans.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I just really wanted to write a chapter in Aki's POV (as much as that goes when I'm writing in 3rd person) and so I wrote this chapter. I figured it would be nice to see the situation from an outer perspective. I hope you don't mind. I also hope you don't mind that I kinda suck at converting ideas from head to paper. I'm sorry about that.   
> Wait... I wasn't supposed to apologize today seeing as my mother gave me a t-shirt saying "I'm not sorry" and I'm wearing it now. (Yes, I do tend to apologize a lot normally)  
> No matter. I'll see you next time.   
> Jackie


	35. Help

The roof of Sakura High was completely deserted. Rin was very grateful for this fact. The less who heard their conversation the better. Aki had started to calm down somewhere behind him and her usual smile were back in place.

They sat as far away from the door to the roof as possible, to ensure no one overheard their conversation by accident. Everyone prepared to eat their lunches before Rin spoke.

“Yazaki-san,” he started while eying the girl. “You asked about Haru and where he were,”

Aki nodded. “You want to tell us?”

“That’s why we went here,” Rin got some rice between his chopsticks and moved them up to his mouth. “Please don’t interrupt, I haven’t had to tell the full story yet and it might be difficult to find the right words,” he excused himself.

Aki and Aiichirou both nodded at this and prepared themselves to just listen to what Rin had to say.

“So… This Friday, Haru and Nanami – a girl from third grade – were walking to her place. We were just asked to walk her there but I had to go for a run with Sousuke and sent those two off on their own,” Rin said. “So I went running with Sousuke and we parted ways when we were done. I went home, so did he. As I reached home, Haru had yet to return, even though he should have been back by then, but then I got a call from Sousuke who said Haru had been kidnapped,”

By this Aki looked like she wanted to speak and Rin looked to her, asking her, with his eyes, what she wanted to say.

“Sorry for interrupting, but how did Yamasaki-kun know of this?” Aki asked.

“I found Nanami on the way home,” Sousuke answered. “Her hands taped on her back and her mouth shut. I freed her and she told me what had happened,” he answered. “I called Rin right after,”

Aki nodded. “Then… it must really be real…” she said.

“It is,” Rin said. “Since Saturday morning I’ve been receiving a constant stream of messages from Haru’s number. They are daring me to ask for where they are and in the same time, telling me not to go to the police with this. I’ve also had strange dreams since then…” he trailed off at the last part, not being sure of how relevant it was. It was just dreams after all.

“Dreams?” Aki asked. “What about?”

Rin hesitated. “There are two different ones. I dream of both at least once every night,” he said. “The first one is more like a memory about how I ran through Shinjuku in search for Haru and found him, but unlike how it ended in reality, he was dead in my dream, I usually wake up immediately after that,” Rin explained.

“What about the other?” It was now Sousuke asking. He had never heard of these dreams before, only the messages, which Rin had talked to him about this morning.

“It is much less accurate,” Rin answered. “I see a mixture of colors, all sorts of colors, red, blue, black, green, yellow, and everything in between. Meanwhile, I hear the sound of my mother’s voice as she tells me and Haru something that happened long ago, while we were still only babies, before we were placed in the orphanage,”

“What was that story about?” Aki asked curiously. She had never heard of this before, honestly, Rin and Haruka hardly ever talked about their past, not even after they had got to know their biological family. Aki had just figured it was because nothing happened, like most children, but she had never expected this.

“Apparently our biological father tried to kidnap Haru when we were very young because he wanted one of us all to himself. He almost got away with it, but our mother stopped him in time,” Rin answered.

“Rin-san?” Aiichirou said hesitantly. “Do you think those dreams were there to tell you something?”

Rin stared at the younger boy with a thoughtful expression on his face, seriously considering the idea. “What do you make of it, Ai?” he asked.

Now Aiichirou started thinking. “Maybe…” He continued thinking. “Maybe the dream of Shinjuku was to tell you where Nanase-san was and the one of your story was to tell you who was behind it?” he asked, unable to come up with anything better. “I’m sorry!” he exclaimed. “It’s not very realistic,”

Rin nodded, considering the idea. “You’re right, it’s not the most realistic idea, but it isn’t impossible either,” he said. “But I doubt the dream really have a meaning,” he said.

Aiichirou nodded and looked down at his bento.

“So… what are you doing now?” Aki asked curiously.

“Well,” Rin thought. “I… I’m trying to figure out where Haru is and who took him, while not giving in to that asshole,” he answered. “And once I know all that, I’ll figure out a plan to free Haru and get him back safely,”

“I want to help!” Aiichirou exclaimed. “Rin-san, please let me help you find Nanase-san!”

Aki nodded. “I’d like to help too, Matsuoka-kun, Yamasaki-kun, all I can,”

“Thanks,” Rin answered with a smile. “I really appreciate it, but I’m not sure how much you can do,” he looked between Aki and Aiichirou while speaking.

“If you don’t mind, Matsuoka-kun, could I take a look at the messages you have received from Nanase-kun?” Aki asked while reaching out her hand for Rin’s phone.

Rin made a slightly displeased expression, but handed Aki the phone. She looked through the messages since Saturday morning with a concentrated look on her face.

“How can you stand all this?” she asked as she handed back the phone. “I’m not sure I could stand all that, if it was my brother who got kidnapped and I received those messages, I would have given up long ago and just surrendered,” she said. An impressed tone could be heard in her voice.

“I don’t know,” Rin said as Aki handed him back his phone. “I guess it’s because I know it’s not real and even if it is real, I know Haru is strong enough to handle it,”

“Rin-san really has confidence in Nanase-san,” Aiichirou smiled while sending Rin an admiring look. There was a reason why Rin was his idol.

“Have you found out anything else?” Sousuke said, now that they all knew the same about the situation.

“I know Makoto went and talked to okaa-san yesterday,” Rin answered. “I don’t know what about. Of course, it could just have been about Nagisa and Gou’s adventure from last week, but my gut tells me it wasn’t just that,” he said.

“If Tachibana-san spoke to your mother one could argue that it’s confirming Nitori-kun’s theory about your dreams,” Aki stated.

Rin nodded. “You’re right, but… I just…” he stopped talking, unable to find the right words.

“You don’t want to believe it,” Sousuke said. “Yazaki-san and Ai are both right, their theories are good and nothing has been against them so far. Although it’s vague, I’m almost willing to buy it,”

“I’m not buying it until we have shut out all other possibilities,” Rin said.

Sousuke let out a sigh and then smiled while looking away from Rin. “You really are a stubborn one,” he said.

Rin nodded. “You’ve said that before,”

Aki looked at her phone’s display. “Excuse me,” she said. “But lunch break is almost over and none of us are near finishing our lunch, so maybe we should continue the discussion after school and finish our lunch now,” she said.

Rin and Sousuke both nodded, and all four of them dug into their lunches and ate as fast as they could while the time was ticking closer to class start.

Once done, all of them hurried to their respective classrooms and found their seats just in time before the next lesson got started.

Rin felt strangely alone as he sat in his seat during the Old Japanese lesson they were having. The teacher was talking about something Rin didn’t even care to understand. He just allowed his mind to drift while looking out the window. However, suddenly he became painfully aware of the empty seat next to the window, the seat that belonged to Haruka. He decided to look the other way while continuing to space out.


	36. Trash

The atmosphere in the apartment had become heavier and heavier over the past few days Haruka had been there. He had sensed it. It had made him feel uneasy.

It was Monday today if he wasn’t mistaken, but he wasn’t keeping a close track on time, so he couldn’t say for sure if it really was Monday or not. He spent most of the time sleeping, he slept more and more lately, probably because he wasn’t getting anything to eat. He only got a glass of water about every 6th hour. At least, that was what the light told him whenever he woke up.

He had learned what held him in place were some extension cords, one was wrapped around his wrists, tying them together, and the other attached the first extension cord to the wall. There was a chair too, that made sure the latter cord was held in place and impossible to remove from the socket unless you were in a different position than Haruka.

It would have been easy enough to move the chair when he had been at full strength, even with his hands tied on the back, but due to the lack of food, Haruka’s body had weakened some. It wasn’t much, but enough that he was unable to free himself anymore. He had to rely on others. Why?

“Haruka,” Taichi called from the next room. “Do you want something to drink?”

Haruka didn’t answer. He knew Taichi would bring the water anyway, to ensure Haruka was still alive by the time Rin got here… if he ever did. Haruka hoped not.

Just as he thought, he could hear the man get up and walk to the locked room where Haruka was. It was still dark around him. He missed the daylight.

The door opened, and in came Taichi and the said daylight. Haruka shut his eyes for a moment because of the sudden light, but they adjusted quickly and he opened them again.

“You’re awake,” Taichi smiled. “That’s good,”

Haruka wondered if it even made a difference. Taichi seemed to enjoy waking him up whether it was the normal way, or the more violent way, which meant that the man placed his foot on Haruka’s head.

“You know, I’m getting seriously tired of Rin,” Taichi said. “He is not answering me at all,”

Haruka fought back a smirk. He had figured Rin would do something like that. He knew that Rin knew how to handle a situation like this correctly. Maybe he was bothered, but he didn’t let it show. If Rin did so, he would have lost.

In fact, none of them could let their true emotion show in a situation like this. Both of them would have to show as little emotion as possible, to keep this as little entertaining for Taichi as possible.

Did Rin even know who Taichi was to them? Haruka wondered about that.

“What do you plan to do about it?” Haruka asked.

Taichi frowned at his deadpan tone. “I want to give him some proof that he needs to come here,” he said as he bend down and gently touched Haruka’s sore stomach with two fingertips. He let them trail down until he found the center, and then poked.

Haruka held back a small yelping sound that threatened to escape him. He failed to keep his calm expression though, and Taichi noticed right away that as the pain was expressed on the teen’s face.

“If Rin could only see that, I’m sure he’d come running to your rescue,” he said.

“Go ahead,” Haruka said annoyed. “He’s stronger than that,”

“He’s strong, I admit he is even stronger than I thought, but he is not coldhearted,” Taichi smirked. “Don’t worry. He will come if he knows you’re getting hurt. All I want to do is give him proof,”

Haruka wondered how the guy wanted to do that as Taichi removed his fingers from his stomach and stood up straight.

“It’s a good thing your phone is not so outdated it can’t attach pictures to text messages,” Taichi smirked as he said this. “I wonder how long he will take to get here,”

An eternity, Haruka hoped, but he was almost sure Taichi was right. Rin had a tendency to let his emotions take control whenever he was faced with something he couldn’t handle, if anyone he cared about was threatened and anything like that. It had also been Rin’s emotions that drove him to Shinjuku two and half a year ago, to ensure Haruka’s own safety.

Haruka was brutally dragged out of his thoughts when Taichi’s fist landed on his cheek with all his strength behind. Haruka didn’t manage to prepare himself, and therefore fell to the side. He felt his other cheek collide with the cold wooden floor.

“That wasn’t even the hardest,” A hint of disappointment could be heard in Taichi’s voice. “Oh?” Now a surprised sound escaped him.

Haruka could feel the source of the sound. A very small stream of something wet and warm was running from the corner of his mouth and to the floor. He had bitten himself inside the mouth because of the punch. It was simply an accident, but it could be interpreted as something worse to someone who didn’t know what happened.

Taichi hurried out the room and returned within a moment, now with Haruka’s phone in hand. He knelt down in front of Haruka with the phone in one hand while preparing to take a photo.

“Now, please make an expression like you’re in a lot of pain,” Taichi said while smiling.

Haruka frowned. Did the guy seriously expect him to do this just because he asked? If so, he was way dumber than Haruka had made him out to be.

Taichi nodded to himself. “I figured you’d refuse,” he said. His free hand disappeared from Haruka’s view only to collide with Haruka’s already very sore stomach at full force. This time, Haruka couldn’t hold back the yelp, and the pained expression showed itself again.

“Too bad you can’t add the sound,” Taichi said as he took the picture. “Poor Haruka, in so much pain, waiting for big brother Rin to come save him,” his voice was soaked in sarcasm, and it became even worse due to the fake pity he expressed. Haruka’s hatred towards the man increased more and more for each passing second.

Taichi smiled as he went out of the room. “You won’t need anything to drink for now,” he said. “I’ll get you some once we’re on our way to Russia,”

Haruka glared at him while wondering why they were going to Russia. Apparently Taichi read his facial expression correctly.

“Russia is a big country. I’m sure it’ll be easy for the three of us to hide there. No one will ever find you two again,” he said as he closed and locked the door behind him.

 

_From: Haru_

_Subject: Come_

_I’m getting impatient, Rin. If you don’t get over here before sunset tonight, I might just beat him to death by accident. Remember, I’ll send the address to you if you ask. See if you can find it._

Taichi attached the photo to the message before sending it to Rin. He then stared at the display, waiting for a reply. Oddly enough, this game was getting kind of boring. Rin hadn’t answered once since Saturday morning, and much was in favor of him not asking for the address this time either, but Taichi had a slight hope that he would. However, after waiting for an answer for about an hour, Taichi decided to give up. Rin had lost his chance of finding this place easily. If he wanted to know where Taichi was hiding Haruka, he would have to find it on his own for now. If he wasn’t here by sunset, Taichi figured he could make due with just one twin. After all, Haruka was the only one who was rightfully his.

Taichi opened the window next to him and calmly tossed out the phone. He didn’t bother to close it. He needed some fresh air anyway. He would have to figure an easy way to transport Haruka without getting in trouble. He started thinking about that.


	37. Frustration

The school bell rang, signaling the end of the final lesson for today. Rin slowly gathered his things and put them in his bag. He wasn’t particularly in a hurry. He had already texted his and Haruka’s coach and told him that they would both be absent today. He didn’t want to practice without Haruka. It would give him an advantage that he didn’t wish for. It won’t be fair to Haruka if he went to practice. That was at least the excuse he gave himself for this.

“Oi, Rin,” Sousuke stood in the door to the classroom by now. All the other students had already left and Rin was alone, now with Sousuke.

“What is it?” he asked as he got up and flung his bag over his shoulder. “What are you doing here anyway?” he started walking towards Sousuke.

“Yazaki-san, Ai and I wanted to speak to you about what to do next about Nanase,” Sousuke answered.

Rin nodded. As he reached the door, he could also see Aki and Aiichirou standing behind Sousuke. Both wore more serious expressions than usual.

“Okay,” Rin said. “Then let’s go somewhere more private. The school is gonna be full of club activities anyway,” he started walking past them and down the hallway, towards the exit of the school building. The other three followed.

“Where would we go?” Aiichirou asked.

“Any of you who know your parents won’t be home for a while?” Rin asked.

“My mother is always at home…” Aiichirou said in an apologetic tone.

“Apparently my parents have asked Miyano-san to go check up on me every half an hour, so I’m not sure my place works either,” Sousuke answered.

“We’ll go there unless Yazaki-san has something better,” Rin said.

“Well…” Aki trailed off. “My brother is home at my parents’ place at the moment… but I’ve got the key to his apartment,” she said. “We could use that,”

“Where’s that?” Rin asked.

“In Shibuya, close to Shinjuku,” Aki answered. “It’s not too far from here either, only 10 to 15 minutes by train I think,” she said.

Rin smiled. “That’s where we’re going then,” he said cheerfully as they headed out the school building. He led the way to the nearest station while everyone else followed. After travelling through the subway, Aki started leading the way though.

They started walking down the streets, towards Aki’s brother’s place while discussing what to do in their search for their missing friend.

“It might be a good idea to search Shinjuku for clues,” Aki said somewhere along in the conversation.

“But do you have any idea of how big Shinjuku actually is, Yazaki-san?” Aiichirou asked.

Aki nodded. “It’s the capital district of Tokyo prefecture,” she answered. “We were taught that at the beginning of elementary school,” she said. “I know Shinjuku is big,”

“How long do you think it would take for us to search?” Sousuke asked.

Aki seemed to give that matter some thought before giving her reply. “If we divide Shinjuku into four even areas and searched individually… I think… maybe a day or so?” she suggested.

“That’s too long,” Rin dismissed. “I have a feeling we won’t have that much time to find him,”

“How do you know that, Rin-san?” Aiichirou asked curiously.

“I don’t know… twin’s intuition?” Rin shrugged. “I just really want to find him soon or I have a feeling it might be too late to ever get him back…” At this Rin stopped and looked out in the distance, as if he was trying to spot Haruka through the buildings, but of course he didn’t find anything.

Suddenly his phone buzzed and he picked it up and looked at the display. Sousuke peaked over his shoulder, sensing that this could be extremely important. Rin slid his finger across the screen and opened the message.

Aiichirou and Aki couldn’t see the message itself, but they could see the expressions on both Rin’s and Sousuke’s faces. Sousuke showed a slight hint of frustration and concern, the latter most likely for Rin, while Rin showed a rainbow of emotions. Anger, frustration, worry, concern, sorrow, all of it was part of the expression he wore.

“R-Rin-san?” Aiichirou stuttered. “Wh-What’s going on?”

“That… That bastard!” Rin yelled as the grip around his phone tightened. He then turned to Aki. His eyes were lightening with determination. “Yazaki-san, where are we right now, which district?”

“Eh… Shi-shi-Shinjuku…” the girl stuttered, taken aback by Rin’s expression and tone. She had never experienced him like this before and it scared her a little bit to see this side of her friend.

“Let’s search this area then,” Rin said. “We need to find him, now!” his tone turned from determined to demanding and both Aiichirou and Aki were almost shivering from it while Sousuke was just surprised. He hadn’t seen this side of Rin since he had pulled that prank on Haruka two and half a year ago. Apparently it only appeared when his closest family was threatened.

Rin led the way through the streets of Shinjuku while the other three did their best just to keep up with his quick speed. Aki managed to reach Sousuke’s side and started looking at him like she wanted to talk, but she couldn’t find the correct words to start the conversation.

“You want to ask something?” Sousuke asked.

“What did that message hold that made Matsuoka-kun act like this?” Aki asked concerned.

“A photo,” Sousuke said. “More precisely a photo of Nanase,” he explained.

“Is… Is he okay?” Aki asked.

“Hard to say,” Sousuke answered, marking the end of their conversation.

They walked for about an hour at that speed. Rin was getting more and more frustrated and angry by each second. It seemed like they had gotten nowhere through all this time of walking up and down the streets of Shinjuku.

“Matsuoka-kun, don’t you think we should-“ Aki started saying but she was cut off when an object fell from above and hit the sidewalk where they were walking, right in front of Rin’s feet.

Rin stopped immediately and the others had to stop just as suddenly in order to not bump into Rin. He bend down and picked up the object, and then he just stared.

“Rin-san?” Aiichirou asked carefully, but Rin didn’t answer right away.

“Rin,” Sousuke said, attempting to get Rin’s attention, but Rin didn’t look up from the object.

It was a phone, a phone of an older model. More precisely it was a Nokia, and it was still intact despite falling from what seemed to be a great height. It was light blue, so was the display when Rin hit one of the bottoms. It looked like the ocean was the background, but it wasn’t quite clear because the screen had taken a bit of damage.

“There’s no doubt,” Rin said despite that fact. “I know this phone… This is Haru’s,” He turned to his friends. “Can any of you see where it fell from?” he asked.

All four of them looked upwards, to the building they were right in front of. There were about five storeys in the building, but there was only one open window, right above their heads, on the fourth floor.

Rin saw it and nodded to himself before looking back at his friends. “I’m going in,” he said. “There’s nowhere else Haru could be,”

“You’re not going alone,” Sousuke said.

“No,” Rin said. “You guys stay behind,”

Sousuke just shook his head. “That’s not gonna happen. Ai, Aki, you two hang onto Rin’s and Nanase’s phones and stand out here. We need someone to call the police if the guy escapes, and perhaps inform Tachibana if something goes wrong,” he said. “Rin and I will head in,”

Aki nodded once. “Be careful, both of you, Matsuoka-kun, Yamasaki-kun. Please get Nanase-kun out safely,” she smiled encouragingly at them.

“We will do our best, Rin-san, Yamasaki-san,” Aiichirou said.

“Thanks,” Rin said, then he looked to Sousuke. “It’s now or never,” he said before running into the building and up the stairs, with Sousuke right behind him.


	38. Attack

Running up the stairs to the fourth floor would have been a tough task if you hadn’t been as well trained as both Rin and Sousuke were. In their case, they made it in less than one and half a minute. The door was also easy to find. It was the one on the right once they reached the floor. Although the sign on the door said Yamamoto Shino, Rin knew it was the right door.

“This is it,” Rin said, only half out of breath as he rose his hand and prepared to knock on the door.

“Hold on, Rin,” Sousuke grabbed his wrist before he could perform his action.

“What for?” Rin almost snapped at Sousuke while trying to free his wrist from the taller male’s grasp.

“First off, we need to catch our breaths completely. Second, do you even have a plan of what to do once we’re in?” he asked seriously.

Rin shook his head with an understanding look on his face. Both were probably smart things to do before entering the place. “Do you have a plan?” he asked.

“Since I’m the stronger, perhaps I should go hold him back while you find Nanase and free him,” Sousuke answered. He was well aware it wasn’t a very detailed plan, but it was better than just charging in without anything remotely close to a plan.

“Then let’s-“ Rin was cut off as the door in front of them was unlocked and opened slightly, not enough that the two in front of it could look inside, but enough that they could tell it wasn’t just an illusion.

Rin and Sousuke exchanged looks, deciding that they had been standing around long enough. Rin pushed the door open and both he and Sousuke ran inside.

“Oh, you did come,” a man with dark hair was standing by the window, a smirk in place on his face. Rin found that smirk incredibly misplaced, seeing as the face it was placed on, looked almost like Haruka’s.

“Who are you?” Rin asked.

“You can’t tell? I’m disappointed Rin,” the man said, revealing the disappointment in his voice.

Rin glared. “I thought you were gone,” he said.

“Not without my own children,” the man answered. Then he looked to Sousuke. “Thanks for walking him over here, you can leave now,”

Sousuke was about to charge forward and attack, but Rin reached out a hand, blocking his path. He looked to Sousuke as he spoke, but still hat his front towards the guy. “Not yet, Sousuke,” he said. “I want to ask him some more questions,”

“Uh?” The man tilted his head, still with a smirk in place on his face. “What do you want to ask, Rin?” he asked.

“Where’s Haru?” Rin asked.

“Haruka?” The man smiled. “I won’t tell you unless you surrender,”

Rin smiled. “That’s never gonna happen,” he then stepped back and let his arm fall as it was no longer blocking Sousuke’s path. “You know what to do,” Rin said before turning and heading to the nearest door to attempt to open it and see what was on the other side.

Sousuke charged forward and attempted to land a punch at the other’s stomach. Rin could soon hear them fighting more violently as he tried searching the apartment for Haruka. However, he had no luck. The first room he found was locked and the other two rooms held no sign of a person being in there.

“Sousuke!” Rin called. “I need a key!”

“I’m a little busy!” Sousuke yelled back while avoiding an incoming punch. “Do something on your own!” he called while attempting to land a punch on the other’s cheek.

“Easy for you to say,” Rin mumbled. He had no clue of how to open a locked door whatsoever. He couldn’t run down to Aki and ask for a hairpin for two reasons, the situation didn’t call for something like that, and he didn’t think she would just carry one around like that. She didn’t use them normally, so why would she?

Rin tried to throw his own body against the door, but it seemed stronger than he thought it was. He ended up hurting his own shoulder.

“Damn it,” Rin cursed. He then looked over to see if he could locate the key somewhere.

It wasn’t on the table, it wasn’t by the window, and there were no other furniture but a chair, which had no key on it either. Rin then scanned the two fighting in front of him to see if the man had dropped the key. His gaze was then caught by something on the floor, between Sousuke and the man.

Rin smirked and ran forward, waiting for the right moment to reach for the object. It was shining with a metal-like color. It could be exactly what Rin was looking for.

The time came. The two fighting men moved a step away from Rin, and he took just that opportunity to grab the key and run back to the locked door.

“Please work,” Rin said as he pushed the key into the lock and turned it, unlocking the door. He made sure to pull it back out and put it in his pocket before entering the room.

Inside, Haruka was lying down beside a chair. His hands were on his back and his eyes were closed, however, he opened one eye as soon as Rin entered and slowly prepared to sit up.

“Are you okay?” Rin asked as he headed over to Haruka and helped him up, as it went a bit quicker.

Haruka only nodded in response.

Rin knelt down in front of Haruka and reached behind him, studying the way he was tied with just one hand. He smiled while doing so, happy and relieved to see Haruka again.

“These are tight,” he commented as the other hand went to Haruka’s back as well and he started untying him. It went a bit slower than he had hoped. Haruka didn’t react to this though. “Does it hurt anywhere?” Rin asked.

“Not really,” Haruka answered.

“You looked in pain,” Rin said in a tone that made it clear that he refused to believe Haruka’s words.

“My stomach is sore,” Haruka explained calmly. “And I accidentally bit my cheek,”

Rin sighed and nodded. He then made the last move and Haruka’s hands were free. “Anything else I need to know?” he asked, a little strictly.

“Not really,” Haruka answered again. However, this time Rin had a feeling that he was just saying that to make Rin worry less about him. He wouldn’t ask further, though. If it were important, he would be informed later on anyway.

“Sousuke is holding him off right now,” Rin said. “The most important thing is to get out of here,” he said as he stood up. He reached down a hand to support Haruka.

Haruka accepted the outstretched hand and allowed Rin to pull him on his feet. He was surprised at how weak he had become from three days without food. Fortunately he managed not to let it show, or at least Rin didn’t notice as they slowly headed out of the room.

“About time!” Sousuke yelled as he saw the two coming out of the room. He had been cornered by the other man and was now receiving punch after punch, unable to dodge most of them.

“Hey, asshole!” Rin yelled. “Do you mind terribly if I just take Haru home and then come back to kick your ass?” he smirked provokingly.

“You’re delusionary,” the man said. “You’re not going anywhere, neither of you are,” he ran towards Rin and Haruka, having forgotten everything about Sousuke.

Rin moved as he stood a little in front of Haruka while eying him. “Stay back Haru,” he said. “You’re in no condition to fight,”

Haruka nodded, although it bothered him, he knew Rin was right. If he got too involved in the fight, he could cause them to lose in his physical state. But it didn’t suit him to stay back like this, so he would only stay back until he found something better to do.

The man attempted to land a punch in Rin’s gut, but Rin moved and dodged the attack before landing a punch of his own on the man’s arm.

An idea hit Haruka, like lightning from a clear blue sky and he made his way to Sousuke without getting any attention. They spoke in secret for a short while, discussing Haruka’s plan, before Haruka moved again.

Sousuke now ran to help Rin fight off the man while, keeping him well distracted while Haruka did what he had to do to prepare. It didn’t take long before he called out.

“Oi, Taichi!” Haruka called with a phone in his hand. “I’m calling the police now,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, going back in the history of bad endings, the ending of this chapter probably takes the cake. I'm sorry about that, and the worst part is that I really can't do anything about it. But if I had to point out one thing that I regret from this story, it would probably be that stupid ending line.   
> Please don't tell me it is as bad as I think it is, and if you do agree with me... please don't say anything.   
> Anyways, see you next time
> 
> Jackie


	39. Parent

Makoto was at home. He had been since noon after having taken a morning shift from four in the night until then. He was supposed to sleep, but that had been next to impossible. His senses as a parent had told him that something wasn’t right and kept him awake all afternoon.

Nobody else had been home until about half an hour ago when Rei had returned from his university. Nagisa had texted him, informing him that he would hang out with his friends at the swimming club and perfect his breast stroke even more. Kisumi was having some stylist practice at a show tonight and won’t be home until about 10 or so.

Just then, Makoto’s phone started ringing and he picked it up almost immediately like he was expecting an important call. In reality he wasn’t, it was just that feeling that caused him to act like this. And besides, it was Rin who was calling.

“Hello, what is it, Rin?” he asked as he picked up.

“Uh… excuse me, Tachibana-san?” It was a female voice. It took a short while before Makoto could place it and he smiled as he did.

“Yazaki-san?” he asked. “What is it?” he asked.

“Well… We think we have found out where Nanase-kun is,” she said. “Matsuoka-kun and Yamasaki-kun went in to save him about 10 minutes ago and Nitori-kun and I were left outside the building,”

“And you’re worried?” Makoto asked.

“Yes,” Aki answered. “Yamasaki-kun said to call you if something went wrong, it’s not like anything has gone wrong yet, but it has been a little too long, and so we thought it would be best to inform you about what is happening,”

“Where are you at now?” Makoto asked. He got up from the couch he had been sitting in almost all afternoon and headed to the hallway to prepare to get outside.

“We’re in Shinjuku,” Aki gave the address. “How long do you think it’ll take for you to get here, Tachibana-san?” she asked.

“Five to ten minutes if I go max speed,” Makoto said.

“Like… Like driving more than what’s allowed?” Aki asked worriedly.

“Yes,” Makoto said while pulling on his shoes. “It’s not something I like to do, but in this case, the sooner I can get there the better,” he said.

“I understand. Please be careful, Tachibana-san,” Yazaki said. “Nitori-kun and I will be outside,”

“Okay, thanks,” Makoto said. “I’ll see you then,” he hung up and was about to leave when Rei came out.

“What is it?” he asked.

“Rin, Yamasaki and the others have found Haru,” Makoto said. “I’m going to the place to help out. You stay here and inform Nagisa once he gets home. I don’t know when I’ll be back,” he grabbed his keys and opened the door.

“Be careful,” Rei warned.

“I will,” Makoto said before half running out the apartment, leaving the door open for Rei to close behind him.

* * *

 

Makoto’s head was full of thoughts as he hurried to Kisumi’s car and unlocked it. Of course the car was for both him and Kisumi to use, but it was originally Kisumi who had bought it and therefore they had all just declared it to be his car, seeing as it was more right that way.

Makoto sat in and started the car. He had already typed the address on his phone and placed it in the window, using the directions to guide him.

While driving, he allowed all the latest events to pass through his mind.

A lot had happened since spring. Rin and Haruka had been called to Australia for swimming, Nagisa had gotten a job as babysitter and Rei was preparing to move out. These were good things that showed just how much his children had grown up. He couldn’t believe they had already been with him for 11 years and grown so much since then. Back then they had just been some troubled children who needed someone to care about them. Now, they were all nearing adulthood and had matured way more than those back in Iwatobi could have ever imagined.

Of course, Rei and Nagisa’s relationship had almost fallen apart too. Nagisa had been kicked out of math class but was supposed to attend it again starting today. He had also run away less than one week ago because of a lot of troublesome stuff. Makoto hadn’t been aware of half of it until Rin and Haruka told him about it. Those two had seen it all.

Then Haruka had gotten kidnapped, causing the entire family to grow worried. Makoto remembered that they had had to call Rei home from Osaka and ask him to bring Nagisa along while he was at it. They had returned on Saturday morning.

Rin had been acting strange since about that time though. He had been much less talkative than usual and Makoto had had a feeling he was hiding something. He had just left it be for two reason. Rin was not the type to hide something, and if he did hide something, it wasn’t for too long, the other reason was that Makoto was hiding something from Rin too and would rather not tell him that he knew the identity of the one who had kidnapped Haruka.

He had spoken to Matsuoka-san about it. She had told him about Rin and Haruka’s biological father and grown really worried when Makoto had shared his information with her. She had said it wasn’t impossible though.

“Could he be after Rin too?” Makoto had asked her.

“I don’t know…” Matsuoka-san had looked worriedly at him. “It is possible. I shall admit, if it turns out he is after Rin too I won’t be surprised,”

This conversation had caused Makoto to worry even more, especially about how Rin had seemed to be hiding something.

He wondered how Rin had managed to find Haruka so quickly. Something had had to happen. A thought that had been in Makoto’s head since Saturday morning, surfaced once again. Maybe Taichi had taken contact to Rin and asked him to come to wherever Haruka was. Was that how this had happened? He would have to confront Rin about this later.

But first things first, he would have to find his boys and make sure they were both okay.

Makoto sped up. He was nearing Shinjuku fast, breaking every speed limit. He knew this was dangerous, not only for everyone else, but also for himself. He had met a few children who had been involved in car accidents, caused by people driving too fast. He had an idea of how it would end up if he wasn’t careful. He wasn’t an experienced driver, which only made it even more important that he watched out for the people around him.

After around 2 more minutes he turned down the street in Shinjuku where the apartment was supposed to be. He slowed down a bit and caught sight of a young boy and girl who were standing together outside a five-storey building. He pulled to the side and stopped right in front of them before jumping out of the car.

“Where are they?” he asked as Aki and Aiichirou walked towards him.

“They’re inside,” Aki said. “No one has come out yet,” she was holding Rin’s phone tightly in one hand and Haruka’s phone in the other. She was holding them tightly as she spoke worriedly to Makoto.

“What floor?” Makoto asked.

“The fourth,” Aiichirou answered.

“Okay,” Makoto smiled. “I’ll go in, you two stay put. Everything will be fine, I’m sure,” he assured them before heading inside the building, seeming way calmer than he actually felt.


	40. Okay

“Oi, Taichi,” Haruka called. He was standing by the window with Sousuke’s phone in his hand. “I’m calling the police now,”

Rin snorted at the sound of this sentence. “Haru, that’s so childish. Nobody is taking that seriously,”

Haruka didn’t comment on that. He started typing on Sousuke’s phone with a determined expression.

Taichi turned to Haruka, lightning shot from his eyes. “You won’t,” he said before heading towards Haruka with a threatening attitude, like a predator attempting to corner its prey.

Haruka didn’t move. He just stood still with no other expression but determination on his face while he continued to type. Rin was starting to doubt he was actually calling anybody.

“Rin,” Sousuke said in a hushed voice. “We’re doing a surprise attack,”

Rin looked at him. “Did Haru plan this?” he asked.

“Yes,” Sousuke said, a hint of irritation in his eyes. He was probably irritated that it wasn’t his plan to begin with. “He hopes it will give us an advantage,” he said.

Rin nodded and through eye contact he and Sousuke timed their attack, running from either side of Taichi. Sousuke prepared to punch him in the face while Rin jumped off, planning to land a kick in his stomach, only then Haruka stepped back as much as the corner allowed him to, to give Rin and Sousuke as much space as possible.

As Rin and Sousuke both ran a little backwards to attack again, Haruka started looking around for something he could use for himself. Of course he could punch and fight for himself, but he had a feeling, whether it was a punch or a kick he landed, it would have next to no effect. Therefore, he was looking for something heavier that could have an effect.

The sound of a car brake outside. He decided to use this to make Taichi even more desperate. He knew the man was put in a tight spot because of his act earlier.

“Rin,” he said. “I think the police have arrived,” he said. “I just heard a car stop,”

“I heard it too,” Rin said.

As predicted, Taichi got angry. He charged forward, again attempting to catch Haruka because he was the easiest to get.

Haruka looked around himself, quickly and found a way out of the corner if he got over the chair next to him. So he stepped up on the seat of the chair and jumped down while Sousuke kicked Taichi’s ribs.

“Annoying brat!” Taichi yelled. He allowed himself to withdraw into the corner while fumbling behind him. Nobody knew what for until Haruka noticed a drawer slide open and thought he saw the daylight reflect in something metallic. Realizing what it was, Haruka determined that Taichi had to be stopped, now or never. 

In lack of anything better, Haruka reached for the chair and lifted it above his head. He then threw it and his own body weight against Taichi, causing both of them to fall into the table. The table broke from the impact of the sudden force. Taichi landed on top of the broken table with the chair on his head and Haruka on top of him. The knife he had pulled from the drawer had fallen out of Taichi’s grasp. It was now lying on the floor next to them.

“Haru!” Rin exclaimed. “Are you okay?”

Haruka sat up and nodded before getting back up on his feet. He looked down at Taichi, the man who had held him here for three whole days. He was now knocked out cold.

“He had a knife?” Sousuke said as he knelt down and looked at the knife. Its blade was sharp, but it was just an ordinary knife, normally used to cut herbs or vegetables.

Haruka nodded once again to respond Sousuke’s question.

Then the door opened and Makoto walked in, a worried expression in place on his face. He looked around and his eyes landed on all four people present in the room. He smiled when his eyes landed on Haruka.

“Haru,” he said, he quickly walked over and felt on Haruka’s body, making a quick check to see if he was okay. Haruka stood still and let him do it, knowing that it would ease his worries.

“Just a few minutes too late for the action,” Rin said, smiling calmly. “But what are you even doing here?” he asked.

“Yazaki-san called me. She and Nitori-kun had gotten worried about you because you took a while,” Makoto said. “You should have told me that you had found out where Haru was,” he sent Rin a reproachful look at these words.

“Sorry,” Rin answered while lowering his head. “I didn’t think about it at the time,”

Makoto nodded. “I understand,” he said. “I’ll call the police,”

“Haru already-,” Rin started, but was interrupted by Haruka shaking his head.

“I didn’t,” he said. “It was just an act,”

Makoto chuckled. “Okay,” he said. “Then I’ll do it,” he typed the number and pressed the phone to his ear. He spoke quickly on the phone and hung up within two minutes after giving up the address and explaining the situation.

“So?” Rin asked.

“Yamasaki-kun, if you’d please go down and get Yazaki-san and Nitori-kun up here,” Makoto said. “We have all been asked to stay until the police have arrived, we will probably be questioned too,”

Sousuke nodded and went out of the apartment and down the stairs to the street. Rin, Makoto and Haruka were then left to themselves in the small apartment.

“Are you both okay?” Makoto asked concerned.

Rin nodded. “I’m okay… except a couple of bruises,”

“Do you mind if I take a look?” Makoto asked.

Rin shook his head. “But take a look at Haru’s stomach while you’re at it. He says it’s sore,” he said while taking off his shirt.

Makoto started studying Rin’s body, taking a close look at the blue and black spots on the pale skin. He put pressure on points where he thought something could be broken but each time he let go, he would smile, signaling nothing was wrong with that spot. Finally he let Rin go.

“You seem fine,” he said before turning to Haruka. “Haru,” he said, and Haruka took off his shirt too and revealed the few bruises on his arms and chest, and the black mark that once had been the pale skin of his stomach.

Makoto studied his body as well. He didn’t find as many places to put pressure on as he had with Rin, but the results were the same, except for the stomach. Only a little bit of pressure was enough to make a hiss escape Haruka. After that, he was dismissed.

“Haru, I think you should have your stomach checked out at the hospital. It’s not like something serious is wrong, at least nothing I can tell, but I would like it if you did get checked, just in case something is wrong,” Makoto said as he stepped back.

Haruka nodded and pulled his shirt on again.

Sousuke, Aiichirou and Aki entered then, and they could also hear the police coming closer. Makoto checked Sousuke before they arrived, nothing was wrong there either. He then thanked Sousuke, Aki and Aiichirou for helping them out so much.

They heard the cars stop and four police officers and a single doctor came into the apartment shortly after. Everyone was questioned and the doctor checked Rin, Haruka and Sousuke again. He arrived at the same conclusion as Makoto had.

After about an hour, the police let all of them go and took Taichi into custody. However, before they could leave, the police decided that they would take Rin’s and Haruka’s phones as evidence.

As the entire group came down to the street, Makoto announced that he would drive everyone home after that, declaring it had been a tough day for all of them. They all got into the car. Rin, Haruka, Aki and Aiichirou were on the back seat and Sousuke was up front with Makoto.

They hadn’t been driving for long before Haruka leaned against Rin’s shoulder and closed his eyes. He was preparing to go to sleep again. Rin smiled, and just let him do whatever he desired. These moments were rare. He had to enjoy them while he still could.

Before Rin realized it, also he fell asleep with his cheek resting against the window, too exhausted from the emotional roller coaster he had been through today.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yup. We had to start off with that stupid line I used to finish chapter 37. I normally don't do recaps, but I figure when you're interrupting a scene with something entirely different, it might be required.   
> Anyways, this is all I have for today. now there are only two chapters left. 
> 
> Jackie


	41. Favor

After dropping off Aiichirou, Aki and Sousuke, Makoto drove to the hospital. Rin and Haruka were still asleep on the back seat. Nobody had wanted to disturb them it seemed. This left Makoto with the heavy task of waking them up.

“Rin, Haru,” he said softly while shaking them.

Both woke up immediately. They looked at Makoto and at their surroundings and realized what was going on. They were holding outside the hospital. Makoto wanted Haruka’s stomach checked out before they went home.

Both Rin and Haruka got out the car and they all went inside the building. Makoto left Rin and Haruka in the waiting area for a couple of minutes while he went and talked to a co-worker.

“Is it possible that I can have a scanning performed within the next half an hour?” Makoto asked, setting a decent time limit for both parties.

The woman, whom he worked with, checked the system. “I’m sorry, Tachibana-sensei, but no doctor is free at the moment,” she said.

“Then, can I do it?” Makoto asked.

The woman shook her head. “You’re off your shift, besides, it is the hospitals policy to not have someone work with someone they know from their personal life,” she said. “You know that rule, Tachibana-sensei,”

Makoto nodded, letting out a heavy sigh. “Then… Isn’t there someone on break?” he asked.

“I’m afraid not, everyone is occupied,” the woman said.

“Tachibana?” Another doctor came over. “I found some kids in the waiting area who weren’t registered. They said they were with you?”

“Ah, Serizawa-sensei,” Makoto turned to another doctor whom he got along with very well. “Yes, I just came to have one of them scanned because he has been punched in the stomach a lot,” Makoto explained. “You’re still working?”

“Just got off break,” Serizawa answered.

“Serizawa-sensei, there is a-“ the woman started but Serizawa cut her off by raising a hand.

“I’ll take a look at him then,” he told Makoto. “I owe you one anyway,”

“Do you?” Makoto asked confused.

“Well, there was that time last year when you took my shift as I could make it to my friend’s wedding,” Serizawa said while laughing. “And a couple of more times too… I think just about everyone owes you one by now,”

Makoto smiled. “Thanks, Serizawa-sensei. I really appreciate it,”

“Go get them,” Serizawa answered to this. He then turned to the woman. “Whatever you have to say, I’m sure it can wait just a couple of minutes, the scan has to be done before he eats anything, in case an organ has taken damage,”

The woman sighed and nodded, before leaving Serizawa to his own business.

Makoto went and got Rin and Haruka and they were led into a room by Serizawa. He had Haruka lay down and it only took a couple of minutes before he was scanned. Serizawa turned to Makoto with a deadly serious expression.

“Does he need hospitalization?” Makoto asked worriedly.

Serizawa smiled at him and shook his head. “You’re so easy to fool, Tachibana,” he said. “No, despite the ugly bruise, nothing has taken damage, at least nothing I can see. I would still be careful though,”

“What does that mean?” Rin asked.

Serizawa looked at him. “Meaning, he’ll have to eat stuff that is easy to digest for the next week or so, just to be sure nothing goes wrong. Also, no sport allowed,”

Rin eyed Haruka. “Then you better train extra hard next week,” he said. “Or you might never be able to catch up,”

Haruka just sent Rin a glare in response to that.

Makoto thanked Serizawa and then they were dismissed. He led the way out to the car and Rin and Haruka sat in the backseat again. It wasn’t long before they fell asleep once more. The sun was setting now as Makoto drove all the way home, wondering if he could actually wake them up a second time.

* * *

 

Rin and Haruka hadn’t been the only ones taking an afternoon nap. When they, along with Makoto, entered the apartment, they found Nagisa and Rei sitting in the couch, leaned against each other, both sound asleep. Judging from the wet stains on Nagisa’s cheeks, they could tell he had been crying.

“When did they get home?” Haruka asked.

“Saturday morning,” Rin said. “Gou returned here late on Friday saying Nagisa was somewhere in Osaka, completely out of money. They had spent the last money on Gou’s ticket to Tokyo,”

“I see,” Haruka said while watching the two.

As if he could feel Haruka’s gaze through his sleep, Nagisa’s eyes opened in just that instant and the first person his gaze landed on, was Haruka.

“Rei-chan!” he exclaimed while shaking the older boy harshly. “Rei-chan, wake up!” he yelled. “I’m hallucinating!”

Rei’s eyes opened a bit slower than Nagisa’s. “Hallucinating? What do you mean?” he asked tiredly.

“Haru-chan’s back home!” Nagisa said.

Rin laughed. “He sure is,” He wrapped an arm around Haruka.

Nagisa sat up straight and before anyone could even think to blink, he was jumping at Haruka, clinging to him like a koala bear to its mother. “Haru-chan is home!” he kept on yelling.

“I’ve told you to lay off with the –chan,” Haruka muttered halfheartedly.

“Are you okay, Haruka? You seem fine…” Rei said while studying Haruka’s body for anything out of the ordinary.

Haruka just nodded and Rei smiled gratefully in response.

Nagisa suddenly interrupted himself when he heard an odd sound coming from Haruka’s stomach. “Have you eaten anything, Haru-chan?” he asked concerned, still clinging to Haruka.

Haruka looked away. “I ate water…” he said.

“That’s not eating!” Rin yelled. “That’s what common people call drinking water!”

“For how long haven’t you eaten?” Makoto asked concerned.

Haruka said nothing at first, then it came quietly. “…Since Friday,”

Makoto sighed. “I see. Then… this diet might be a bit difficult,”

“Haru-chan’s on a diet?” Nagisa asked.

“You could say that,” Rin answered.

“Why?” Nagisa asked. “What happened? Did Haru-chan gain weight?”

Rin fought an inner battle to contain the laughter that was threatening to burst out. “No,” he said. “He just received a beating from an asshole,”

“You weren’t the one beating me up,” Haruka commented.

“Are you saying I’m an asshole?” Rin yelled.

“Calm down in there!” Makoto yelled. “Rin, go take a bath,”

“Why me? Haru stinks more,” Rin complained.

Makoto smiled at that statement. It was true, but he had a reason for this, and Rin knew it well enough. “Because if he gets to bath now, then you’ll be the one to drag him out when I’m done preparing food in 10 minutes time,” he said.

Rin sighed, getting Makoto’s point. Then he went to take a quick shower instead of a bath.

“Yay! I can stick to Haru-chan!” Nagisa exclaimed while clinging even more to Haruka.

“Nagisa… maybe we should let Haruka sit down….” Rei said carefully. He moved a bit on the couch to make sure there was enough room for Haruka to sit down, even with a clingy Nagisa wrapped around him.

“It’s good you’re getting along,” Haruka said as he sat down next to Rei, forcing Nagisa to let go of him.

Rei nodded. “And it’s good to have you back,” he answered. “But it won’t be long before I move out,” he said while refusing to look at Haruka and Nagisa. In return, both Haruka’s and Nagisa’s heads turned to face him with surprised expressions. None of them knew how to respond to Rei’s last comment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A correction from last chapter's note. Of course I meant 38 instead of 37. I don't get very well along with numbers. It isn't a secret that math is my worst subject at school.


	42. Future

Rei was right. If he didn’t move he wouldn’t be able to complete the last things needed to become a full-fletched working adult. Makoto had already realized this and had therefore decided to support Rei’s decision of moving away on one condition.

“You will have to stay somewhere within a walking distance of 10 minutes at max,” he dictated. He told this to both Rei and his senpai, Sera, whom he had invited over to discuss the matter. The two were still planning on living together to make it cheaper for both of them.

“Why?” Sera asked.

“Because of Nagisa,” Makoto said. “Rei may not be in need of his family anymore, but we are still in need of him, especially Nagisa, and therefore I have to make this rule,” Makoto explained further.

Rei nodded in response to this. “It seems reasonable enough,” he said.

And so it should be. Rei found a relatively cheap place at a 5 minutes walking distance away. He and his senpai moved in there at the beginning of the summer break, and during all that time, Nagisa visited them on a daily basis.

Rin started training from the day after they had rescued Haruka. Haruka joined him after a week. The bruise on his stomach had faded a lot and it now only looked bad at the center.

On the day when Haruka returned to the swimming training he and Rin returned home with some good news. Scouts all over the world had seen them in Australia and they had gotten offers from at least 15 universities since a week before. There were even three universities in Australia alone. At summer break they had reached about 50 offers worldwide.

“That’s because you won Freestyle,” Rin said with a grin on his face.

Haruka shrugged at this.

“That reminds me,” Kisumi said excitedly. “You never got to tell us how things went in Australia because so much happened right after you returned,”

“Did you win anything?” Nagisa asked, leaning forward.

“I’m also curious,” Rei said.

They were gathered around the dining table with a bowl of strawberries in the middle, which they were all eating from (needless to say where the biggest amount of strawberries went). It was a hot summer day, right after Rei had moved out at the beginning of Summer break.

“Give them some space,” Makoto said. “We have had an entire month to ask them about this,”

“Well,” Rin said. “Haru placed first in 100 m. free. I placed 3rd in 50 m. free and 4th in 100 m. butterfly. Haru placed 9th in 50 m. free too and 4th in 200 m. free,”

“Didn’t you participate in more events Rin-chan?” Nagisa asked.

“I signed up for the 100 m. free too but coach wouldn’t let me go through with it and forced me to back down, also the 100 m. butterfly and the 100 m. free first round was at the exact same time, and no one can be in two pools at once,” Rin explained.

“You said that like you didn’t want us to think you were unable to beat Haru,” Kisumi said with a smirk.

Rin didn’t comment on this. It was part of the reason, but what he had said was also the truth. But he did hope that something like that wouldn’t happen in the future. He wanted to race Haruka in the 100 m. free because that was the event where they were the most even.

Because Rin and Haruka had gotten invitations from so many universities worldwide, their homeroom teacher couldn’t hold them up on the plan B idea she had been forcing on them since spring. Therefore she backed down and decided to torment someone else with all her bright ideas for their future. Most students agreed that she was probably not the most fit to teach a third year class in high school. She was too forceful with all her ideas.

Aki, Aiichirou and Sousuke managed to get some great ideas for their own future plans without any help. Sousuke decided on becoming a police officer and do his best to reach that goal. Aki recommended the university her brother was attending. Apparently he was also planning on becoming a police officer.

Aki, herself, decided to work towards becoming a teacher. Whether it would be at kindergarten, elementary school, middle school or high school she had yet to decide. She just attended the nearest university. Aiichirou ended up attending the same university as her, but without a clear goal in mind. He said he would find something along the way.

Kisumi was already becoming a great stylist. Even if he was still under education, more young models had requested him and so he was already earning a lot of money for the family, once again. He also regained some spotlight from the media and he was even thinking about becoming a designer along with this.

“The more famous I can get and the more I can do for the model industry, the more money I can bring in,” he had said while discussing the matter with Makoto. However, he won’t start on the designing part until he was done with his stylist education.

The man they had come to know as Nanase Taichi was imprisoned along with a police officer whom he had been getting classified information from for the past five years, among the information he had received was the fact that Rin and Haruka had been involved with the serial killer case two and half a year ago.

While the police was trying to make Taichi admit his crime, Rin and Haruka were picked up from just about anywhere at unpredictable times, to participate in the countless trials held against him. Matsuoka-san also participated in a few of them.

The most interesting thing that turned up during these trials was the fact that Taichi wasn’t actually the man’s real name. This was revealed when his mother, whom nobody had been able to trace for the past 20 years, appeared at a trial and called him by the name Ichirou.

By the end of summer break, Rin and Haruka had finally decided what university they were going to. Of course they applied for the same, as they could continue to train together and Makoto had to speak to them about this matter as well.

“How often will you be home?” he asked them one afternoon.

Rin and Haruka both thought long and hard, but Haruka was the first to come up with the answer. “At the Australian summer break and for New Years,” he answered.

“That’s twice a year,” Rin added, feeling like he had to give a response too.

Makoto nodded, letting out a sigh. “I understand,” he answered. “Please promise me that if any other times occurs, you’ll come visit us. Such as… if there is a tournament in Japan some time and you get some spare time,”

“We will,” Rin promised. “But then, you have to come see us too,”

“I will,” Makoto assured. “Regardless of time,”

And so, the peaceful lives continued within the Tachibana family for a while longer. Everyone was happy and things had started to go well again for everyone. Eventually Rin and Haruka would go to Australia and Nagisa would have to move out too someday, but until then, they were all confident that they could maintain peace. And no matter where they went, they knew they would never forget their family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And with that the story is complete. I hope it wasn't the worst sequel one could come up with for a relatively good story.   
> I will use this final note to point out a fun fact. We need to go a little back in time to the night when I couldn't sleep and accidentally came up with this sequel. I was afraid I would forget my idea and therefore I wrote the notes down on my phone, but I had to give the note a title, which would also be the title of the story and so I decided for Future Parenting, because it is about what will happen to the Tachibana family in the future. About a week later I realized that I had accidentally borrowed the song-titles from the endings for Free! and ES (Splash Free and Future Fish)  
> Okay, that is basically useless info to anyone who isn't interested (and there probably aren't many out there)  
> I'd like to thank all those who left kudos (last time I checked there should be about 11) and all those who have read this story until the end. I'm very happy about this and it means a lot to me.   
> With that, I hope you will read some more of my stories, and if not, then it's okay. I hope to see you all some other time though. 
> 
> Jackie

**Author's Note:**

> Here it is! The long-awaited sequel of Free Parenting. Just a fair warning. I attempted to watch the ES dub while writing this in order to grasp the characters again, but personally, I believe it only brought them even further off. I hope you'll forgive me for this. 
> 
> This story is also uploaded on Fanfiction.net... when the website decides to work again (hopefully later today)
> 
> Also, this chapter might differ a tiny bit from the rest of the story, seeing as I have gotten a new editor recently. She edited the first chapter, but she found the story too long and asked if she could leave it. I told her it was alright. 
> 
> Anyways, I hope you enjoy the story. I'll publish daily as I always do and see you tomorrow. 
> 
> Jackie.


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